Exclusive Interview: Danish Cellist Jakob Kullberg
Cellist Jakob Kullberg will be performing pieces for cello, clarinet, and piano by Nordic composers, some of them world premieres, at National Sawdust in Brooklyn on Feb. 2, 2020. The noted musician, recipient of two Danish Grammy Awards, will be joined by clarinetist Chris Grymes and pianist Jeremy Gill. Kullberg spoke with us about his career and the upcoming concert.
Many American listeners won’t be familiar with some of these composers. Can you tell us a little about some of the works and how they’re meaningful to you?
The music of Nørgård, Saariaho and Sørensen has a special place in my heart.
I have been working very closely with Per Nørgård for more than 20 years in a myriad of constellations and roles. Recently I recorded a work for violin, cello and orchestra with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in Norway that stands as a particularly good example of the creative and collaborative way we have developed.
The work, called “Three Nocturnal Movements,” had its premiere at the Bergen International Festival in 2015 and has an unusual creation story. The second movement is my composition on Nørgård’s piano fragments, meaning that I have chosen sketches and unfinished fragments from a recording I made of Nørgård playing the piano.
After making a selection of material I decided on the form of the movement, composed connections, superimposed material from the surrounding movements so as to make a coherent whole and finally orchestrated it.
In general I find that Nørgård, Sørensen and Saariaho represent some of the best Nordic music from their generation. I felt I understood Saariaho’s orchestration better after experiencing the Finnish summer nights where the sun never really goes down but instead creates a flamboyant spectrum of purple, red and blue hues.
Both Nørgård and Saariaho feel a connection to the music of Sibelius and for me [their music] has a profound quality. It represents both traditional cello playing and new invention and so fits me like a glove.
Eivind Buene and Niels Rønsholdt are both contemporary classical composers who have begun composing music that connects with contemporary music but also with popular music. In this sense I feel a natural connection to what they do as I myself am interested in many different styles of music such as jazz, blues and indie-pop.
I feel I have an opportunity to explore a less classical side of myself through the collaboration with them.
Read the rest of the interview at this link.