Poesis

"This work is based on texts that in various ways have a connection with the northern part of Scandinavia. In my composing, metaphors are always of major importance, but especially so when I was working on Poesis. The texts are a catalyst and the very driving force in the artistic creative process and a fundamental element in all sections of the work. My intention has been to give form to the musical narrative by means of the choir and the human voice from the perspective of the jazz orchestra´s immense musical power. The music moves between the soft and subtle appeal and free improvisation, letting the orchestra´s all-embracing mass of sound occasionally break out into contradictory rhetoric. Poesis was composed in 2017 on commission by the Norrbotten Big Band, the Bohuslan Big Band and the Swedish Arts Council. In this work Erik Westberg has refined the music through his inimitable ability to navigate between subtle choral sonorities and a mature artistic interaction in the context of jazz. It is with considerable modesty, and at the same time elation, that I present this musical work together with Erik Westberg, the Norrbotten Big Band and the Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble." (Örjan Fahlström)