Bartje Bartmans | Einar Englund - "Sinuhe" Ballet Suite (1953) @bartjebartmans | Uploaded July 2024 | Updated October 2024, 1 week ago.
Sven Einar Englund (June 17, 1916 – June 27, 1999) was a Finnish composer.
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Sinuhe. Suite from Ballet for piano (1953)
I. Dance of Sinuhe. Andante (0:00)
II. Dance of Nefer. Andante (1:37)
III. Sinuhe and Nefer-Nefer. Allegretto moderato (3:29)
IV. Dance of Kaptah and the Girls. Allegro con brio (5:31)
V. War Dance of Horemheb. Allegro moderato (7:22)
Laura Mikkola, piano
The Story of Sinuhe (also referred to as Sanehat or Sanhath) is a work of ancient Egyptian literature. It was likely composed in the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty after the death of Amenemhat I (also referred to as Senwosret I). The tale describes an Egyptian man who flees his kingdom, and lives as a foreigner before returning to Egypt shortly before his death. It explores universal themes such as divine providence and mercy. The oldest known copy of the text dates to the reign of Amenemhat III, around 1800 BCE. The work was so popular within Egypt that newer copies have been found ranging up to 750 years after the original.
In 1949 Englund was awarded a grant to study in the United States with Aaron Copland, and he also played jazz with Leonard Bernstein. It has been suggested that Englund's study with the American master consisted of discussions about music and composition, Copland having realised that there was little he could teach the younger man.
Throughout the 1950s he produced a series of large-scale works including Sinuhe, a ballet (1953) originally for piano though later orchestrated, and Odysseus (1959), written for the Swedish dancer and choreographer Birgit Cullberg, a Cello Concerto (1954) and the First Piano Concerto (1955), as well as film scores and incidental music. His score for Erik Blomberg’s Valkoinen peura (The White Reindeer), which won a Jussi Award (the Finnish Oscar), and his score for Max Frisch’s play The Great Wall of China are particularly notable.
He composed music for twenty films, as well as works for choir including the Hymnus Sepulcralis (1975).
During the 1950s, with his second wife, the singer Maynie Sirén, he performed a cabaret act; he was music critic of the Swedish-language Hufvudstadsbladet, and he taught at the Sibelius Academy from 1958 until 1982.
His Third Symphony (1971) appeared 23 years after his second and signalled his return to composition; he had written only a few works during the 1960s. There soon followed his Fourth (1976) and Fifth Symphonies (1977) and the Concerto for Twelve Cellos (1981).
Englund's Sixth Symphony (1984), subtitled Aphorisms, is in six movements for chorus and orchestra; his last symphony, the Seventh, was composed in 1988, coinciding with the onset of the heart disease that signalled a decline in health and would ultimately lead to his death. His Clarinet Concerto of 1991 was completed shortly before a stroke rendered further composition physically impossible. Later he suffered from kidney failure, which necessitated dialysis for the remainder of his life.
Englund also composed chamber music, including a suite for solo cello and a sonata for cello and piano; there are also works for violin and piano, solo trombone, and solo piano.
Sven Einar Englund (June 17, 1916 – June 27, 1999) was a Finnish composer.
Please support my channel:
ko-fi.com/bartjebartmans
Sinuhe. Suite from Ballet for piano (1953)
I. Dance of Sinuhe. Andante (0:00)
II. Dance of Nefer. Andante (1:37)
III. Sinuhe and Nefer-Nefer. Allegretto moderato (3:29)
IV. Dance of Kaptah and the Girls. Allegro con brio (5:31)
V. War Dance of Horemheb. Allegro moderato (7:22)
Laura Mikkola, piano
The Story of Sinuhe (also referred to as Sanehat or Sanhath) is a work of ancient Egyptian literature. It was likely composed in the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty after the death of Amenemhat I (also referred to as Senwosret I). The tale describes an Egyptian man who flees his kingdom, and lives as a foreigner before returning to Egypt shortly before his death. It explores universal themes such as divine providence and mercy. The oldest known copy of the text dates to the reign of Amenemhat III, around 1800 BCE. The work was so popular within Egypt that newer copies have been found ranging up to 750 years after the original.
In 1949 Englund was awarded a grant to study in the United States with Aaron Copland, and he also played jazz with Leonard Bernstein. It has been suggested that Englund's study with the American master consisted of discussions about music and composition, Copland having realised that there was little he could teach the younger man.
Throughout the 1950s he produced a series of large-scale works including Sinuhe, a ballet (1953) originally for piano though later orchestrated, and Odysseus (1959), written for the Swedish dancer and choreographer Birgit Cullberg, a Cello Concerto (1954) and the First Piano Concerto (1955), as well as film scores and incidental music. His score for Erik Blomberg’s Valkoinen peura (The White Reindeer), which won a Jussi Award (the Finnish Oscar), and his score for Max Frisch’s play The Great Wall of China are particularly notable.
He composed music for twenty films, as well as works for choir including the Hymnus Sepulcralis (1975).
During the 1950s, with his second wife, the singer Maynie Sirén, he performed a cabaret act; he was music critic of the Swedish-language Hufvudstadsbladet, and he taught at the Sibelius Academy from 1958 until 1982.
His Third Symphony (1971) appeared 23 years after his second and signalled his return to composition; he had written only a few works during the 1960s. There soon followed his Fourth (1976) and Fifth Symphonies (1977) and the Concerto for Twelve Cellos (1981).
Englund's Sixth Symphony (1984), subtitled Aphorisms, is in six movements for chorus and orchestra; his last symphony, the Seventh, was composed in 1988, coinciding with the onset of the heart disease that signalled a decline in health and would ultimately lead to his death. His Clarinet Concerto of 1991 was completed shortly before a stroke rendered further composition physically impossible. Later he suffered from kidney failure, which necessitated dialysis for the remainder of his life.
Englund also composed chamber music, including a suite for solo cello and a sonata for cello and piano; there are also works for violin and piano, solo trombone, and solo piano.
