Radioopera i en akt   Operan ”BERGET” tar oss med på en resa; en vandring uppför som vi alla på sätt och vis har att gå . . . Berget som reser sig framför oss är både lockande och skrämmande, en spännande utmaning och samtidigt ett obestämbart hot! För både Mannen och Pojken i dramat är Livet utan tvivel en kamp. En kamp mellan tillhörighet och förverkligande, mellan trygg gemenskap och identitetsskapande handling, kanske ytterst mellan den blinda irrationella kärleken och den trosvissa, oomkullrunkeliga övertygelsen! Vem har inte läst om gamle Abraham som på sin ålders höst äntligen fick den efterlängtade sonen Isak, och som av Gud (?) gavs det…

Mirrors for string quartet What is heaven and what is hell? Where is the border between the spontaneous, individualistic chaos of freedom and the coordinated, unifying cosmos of solidarity? Is the gradual mutation of dynamics and texture an aimed statement or an unpreventable process? Could the piece be played backwards? Or from the middle and both ways? Can the listeners experience be liberated from gravitation of time, be compressed into a glowing moment and burn a hole in our preconceived worldview? CHAOSMOS was composed 1981 – in the beginning of the composers education – and is dedicated to composer Arne Mellnäs. The piece was elected to international festivals for new…

For flute   Vocuna VI ”mulinello dubbioso” from 2001 is the latest in a series of short solo pieces that Kjell Perder started in 1992, and that has so far resulted in six compositions (”Inferno lirico” for cello, ”Jerico Jerico” for trombone, ”Mare francese” for guitar, ”Lamento inglese” for viola and ”Cielo oscuro” for horn are the others). The music is characterised by an ambition to explore the idiomatic qualities and expressive optimum of ”vocal instruments”, an attempt to expose the human voices of the instruments. . . In each case the compositional process has emanated from a creative dialogue with top-ranking musicians. For Vocuna VI the composer has collaborated…

For five voices a cappella   The texts in LOVE AND LAMENT are five love poems by five British poets from five different centuries: Shakespeare, Marvell, Burns, Shelley och Lawrence. The five singers becomes a poet each, a character of their own. For instance a soft and sensible countertenor in the clothes of 19th century Shelley, a vigorous and almost haughty baritone in Marvells 17th century poem, a Lawrence bass with 20th century sensuality and yet some ironical distance… Through centuries of love – feverish passion and sober observation, senseless dedication and calm delight – we discern a course of lamentation, the Elegy of Impossibility. ”Fate with jealous eye doth…

For piano solo   ”To the memory of an angel in disguise” London Vertigo (1993) is a composition closer to dizziness and hesitation than to proclamation and sweeping gestures. The soundscape seems to be embraced by a misty curtain from which we only can catch a glimpse of disguised angels, scent a vague fragrance of a forgotten rose and hear the distant echo of lamentation.    

For Brass Quintet   It’s an important fact that excellent musicians are inspiring composers to write new music for them. Stockholm Chamber Brass is thus one of the reasons to the piece ”(Down to) Brass Tacks” (1995). Musically – and on stage – a little drama is going on in Brass Tacks. A struggle between individual and group, between independance and coordination, between polyphony and homophony… The quintet is forming a pentagon on stage, and the direction of sound is exactly prescribed. Brass Tacks is a chamber piece with much energy and humour!    

For two soloists and double chorus   Aphorism for two soloists and double chorus (1987), is built on a short poem by the American 19th century writer Emily Dickinson: Love is anterior to life, posterior to death Initial of creation and exponent of breath The content of the poem has worked as an incitement for the structure of the piece, so the largest chorus represents the perspective of eternity in slowly spun soundtextures of religious immobility, while the smaller chorus symbolizes creativity, impulsiveness and expressiveness. The soloists interprets the last statement in the poem, and become lyrical exponents for love as human – female and male – nerve of life,…