Nomination for the 2020 Nordic Council Music Prize
Photographer: norden.org
Ørjan Matre is nominated for the 2020 Nordic Council Music Prize for the orchestral work Lyric Pieces (2019).
The jury’s rationale:
The work plays creatively on Grieg’s simple melodic lines, offering surprising and fresh twists. The orchestral sounds are rich and brilliant, while fragments of the old pieces burst through and insist on their timelessness. Yet this is by no means an orchestration of Grieg. Matre regards Grieg as a peripheral memory – something abstract yet near and dear. Respectful and approached with love.
Lyriske stykker is pleasing to the ear and is a beautiful universe that, by way of detours through Hollywood, Disney, and the contemporary, makes both modern orchestral music and the classical legacy relevant to more listeners. This is elegant and stylish music in which Matre clearly shines through, with fleeting visits from Grieg.
Read about the nomination and the other nominees here: