Johan Kvandal er en nestor i norsk musikkliv, og hans skapende virke har gjennom et langt liv gitt ham solid erfaring i de fleste genre. Større korverk, en rekke sanger med klaver, og flere betydelige orkesterverker (både med og uten sang) vitner om komponistens dragning mot vokalstoff generelt og musikkdramatikk spesielt. En operakomponist har alltid ligget på lur i Johan Kvandal.
Fanget i en Hamsun-opera
Johan Kvandals opera over Hamsuns ‘Mysterier’ er et engasjerende og høyst respektverdig stykke musikkdrama.
Kvandal on his Hamsun opera: – I am looking for the genuine
– I was in Stockholm the other day and saw an opera about a composer who was unable to finish his commissioned opera. I couldn’t get back home to my piano quickly enough, to mye stacks of blank sheet music and Hamsun Books. Says Johan Kvandal in his home at the outskirts of Oslo, adding note by note to what will hopefully become an opera built on Hamsun novel Mysteries, all while the National Theatre cast all stage lighting on Knut Hamsun.
Audience success and a musical vitamin injection
The composer Johan Kvandal’s opera ‘Mysteries’, opus 75, was premiered in the Norwegian Opera on Saturday. It was a winner with the audience and a musical vitamin injection. Broadly constructed, it has an impact both as a musical work and as a theatrical performance.
Publikumssuksess og musikalsk vitamininnsprøytning
Komponisten Johan Kvandals opera “Mysterier”, opus 75, som ble urfremført i Den Norske Opera lørdag, ble en publikumssuksess og en musikalsk vitamininnsprøytning. Den var stort anlagt, og den hadde gjennomslagskraft som musikkverk og som scenisk forestilling. Barthold Halles libretto var tekstgrunnlaget for Kvandal, som viste et usedvanlig musikkdramatisk talent og en teft i bruken av orkester, kor og solister.
The mysterious Johan Kvandal
– Why do I think ‘Mysteries’ is suitable as an opera? Well, this distinct cast of carachters lends itself brilliantly to the stage! Johan Nilsen Nagen – ” in an eccentric yellow suit and with a wide velvet hat”, Dagny Kielland – “with a thick blonde braid down her back”, Martha Gude – “her hair is white; her eye hair is terribly black, and appear to make the eyes smolder”, and Minutten – “his walk was so troublesome it was conspicuous; and yet he moved so quickly around”.