Publishing
This month's featured work
Reminiscence
Reminiscence is mvt. 2 from
Flute Concerto No.1 Op.70
- dedicated to Emily Beynon.
Composer: Fred Jonny Berg
Interview with composer Fred Jonny Berg
- Berg is one of a handful of composers who are able to create the rare experience of enchanted silence in their music – Berg's Flute Concerto No.1 Op.70 contains several such moments. Even though his tools are a "conventional" orchestra using "conventional" instruments, an unreal atmosphere of calm and celestial flight arises. One of the most fascinating aspects in this regard is that he does not use any minimalist or modernist devices at all; he simply allows the music and its inner qualities to speak in full. In our current age of constant hectic activity, where it is barely permitted to think a complete thought, music such as this is of the greatest importance: it gives the listener the chance to experience time as a benefit and not as a punishment. The concerto is dedicated to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra's eminent flautist Emily Beynon, and it received its premier performance in London in February 2009.
- Wolfgang Plagge
Reminiscence - Information page
Not really Gone
Ragnvald Jacobsen (1905-1997)
Composer: Fred Jonny Berg
Not really Gone is a part of the four movements symphonic poem About my Grandfather Op.37 - written in memory of the composer´s grandfather who was a semi-professional athletic. Hence the titles of the movements. He often trained athletics with his grandson.
This work has appeared in the movie Montagna con Forza as well as on the CD with the same name, About my Grandfather.
Not really Gone - Information page
Flute music by Fred Jonny Berg
The works on this page include the repertoire for flute as solo instrument.
Choose a link for further details and for downloading flute sheet music & listen to excerpts.
Fred Jonny Berg - Biography
– Galway formed a sinuous bond with the orchestra in the world premiere of Norwegian composer Fred Jonny Berg's «Flute Mystery», Concerto for Alto Flute and Orchestra. Berg writes music of a spare beauty. The 15-minute, one-movement piece merges cool restraint and rhythmic exactitude. Galway, to whom Berg dedicated the score, played his languid lines with sympathy and dark polish.
- Washington Post, October 6, 2006
Performances in The Kennedy Center, Washington DC, by Sir James Galway and National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Slatkin
Flute Mystery Op.66a world premiere by Galway in Washington D.C.
Flute Mystery Op.66b UK premiere by Beynon in London
Listen to Flute Mystery Op.66b
Listen to Reminiscence Op.70 #2
Listen to Awakening Op.70 #4
Sheet music available on Flute Mystery
Emily Beynon, flute
Catherine Beynon, harp
Philharmonia Orchestra / Vladimir Ashkenazy
From the Grammy nominated recording Flute Mystery (2L-058-SABD)
- Fred Jonny Berg has given the world yet another timeless classic piece with Flute Sonata no.1 op.40 and should be heralded for his tremendous effort and choice of musicians for this grand masterpiece!
- Gods of Music, 2001; Flute Sonata no.1 op.40. Read the complete review
Op.40 is dedicated to Tom Ottar Andreassen, who also premièred the work on concert and the CD Seasons of Life
Watch a Sheet Music Video of Flute Sonata No.1 Op.40
Watch a Sheet Music Video of High Mountains of Music Op.8
Chronological list | Reviews
High Mountains of Music Op.8
(Flute & Piano) *
Parting Op.20b
(Flute & Piano) *
Flute Sonata no.1 Op.40
(Flute & Piano) *
Dedicated to Tom Ottar AndreassenMoment Alone Op.55
(Flute & Cello)
Flute Mystery Op.66a
Alto flute in G - arp - str
Flute Mystery Op.66b
Fl - arp - str**
Flute Concerto No.1 Op.70
1-2-2-2 4-0-0-1 timp - perc:1 (t. bells) - g. har. - harp - org - str**
A Piccolo Poem Op.72
(Piccolo solo)
Dedicated to Cristina LedfordFlute Concerto No.2 Op.80
1-2-4(2)-3(1) 4-4-3-1 timp - perc:3 (t. bells) - harp - mar - org - str
* Available on the recording Seasons of Life
Tom Ottar Andreassen (flute) & Wolfgang Plagge (piano)
** Available on the recording Flute Mystery
Emily Beynon (Flute), Catherine Beynon (Harp), Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy (Conductor)
The album Flute Mystery (Beynon/Ashkenazy/Berg) was nominated for a Grammy 2010.
«Fred Jonny Berg is a major musical discovery. It would be necessary to rewind to the 1940s and Malcolm Arnold to find an emerging composer of such exceeding promise. His compositions are confidently tonal, fluently melodious and possessed of virtually supernatural penetrative power. The flute works receive achingly beautiful, indeed enchanting, performances from Emily Beynon and the Philharmonia under Vladimir Ashkenazy (Berg conducts the other pieces). This set is recommended for any collector seeking the refined side of contemporary music.»
La Scena, Canada, November, 2009
«The performances, it need hardly be said given the stature of the musicians, are impeccable. Emily Beynon is as good a flute player as has walked the earth, and she clearly enjoys playing this music. Few recordings have given me such pleasure.»
PAN Magazine, September 2009
The Flute Concerto is the beautiful four-movement centerpiece plotted along the Romantic vein yet spectacularly orchestrated with harp, glass harmonica, tubular bells and organ. It opens with the dramatic and expressive "Momento" and finishes with the plaintive «Awakening». The two middle movements are intriguingly related. The restless tremolo string motive at the end of the «Reminiscence» is picked up in the opening of the «Orbituary» yet the moods are a contrast of haunting lyricism and whimsical delights. Welsh-born Emily Beynon, principal flutist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam to whom the work was dedicated, does perfect justice to the piece. I find her playing most compelling in the two contrasting middle movements. The expansive solo in «Reminiscence» is like a sad solitary bird in the deep forest which turns into a carefree soul soaring above unsettling waves of destiny in «Orbituary».
6moons.com, February 2010
Emily Beynon, flute
Catherine Beynon, harp
Philharmonia Orchestra / Vladimir Ashkenazy
From the Grammy nominated recording Flute Mystery (2L-058-SABD)
Photos: Keith Saunders.
Op.66 is dedicated to Sir James Galway. First performed in Washington D.C. on the 5th of October 2006 by Sir James Galway and the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Slatkin.
Flute Sonata No.1 Op.40 is present in the movie Vicino alla Montagna
Vicino alla Montagna - Production trailer (2006).
Vicino alla Montagna - Information page
Flute links
Other instrument pages
Licensed material with permission. All rights reserved by the copyright holders, photographer, composer or Composer AS. Copying without permission or any illegal use prohibited.
Fred Jonny Berg © 2012. All rights reserved.
