In 1992, I started with Fredrik Duvling at the Academy of Music and Dram in Gothenburg, Sweden to study percussion for Bo Holmstrand and Einar Nielsen. Already the first week we started playing duo with each other and as a great inspiration we had the Danish percussion duo Safri. We studied several works our Danish role models had in their repertoire such as the arrangement of Ravel's Alborada del gracioso, Re-Percussion by Per Nörgård and Miinoru Miki's Marimba Spiritual in a version for two percussionists.
Today, almost 30 years later, Fredrik and I have worked closely with composers who written a fantastic personal repertoire for us who have followed us on numerous tours and recordings. When we talked about the future after this summer's tour, Fredrik suggested:
- Why don’t you write something for us?
Musicians who have played together for a long time often become a mirror image of the other player, perhaps it is most clearly seen among percussionists? When timing, phrasing, nuances and movements work in the interplay, the musicians become shadows of each other.
With the first movement of IMAGES, I want to create a dreamlike atmosphere where the musicians become a shadow, an echo of each other. The second movement is very rhythmic where the percussionists become a mirror image of each other with unison rhythms that energetically drive the music to the virtuoso ending.
Köpenhamn, 2020.