News

Welcome to the webpage of the Swedish composer Patrik Jarlestam
If you're looking for my visit to Japan-stories, go here

16 aug 2010 - Litterary inspiration

As a dare I've started to read books, and I have to complete at least 30 by next year. I've rarelly read much else than non-fictional litterature, mostly fact books, if it wasn't a part of home work. In this challenge I've come across the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. So far I've read his books "Sputnik sweetheart" and "Kafka on the beach", soon going to start reading "Norwegian wood" and "The wind-up bird chronicles". Having read the first two books, they remind me of everything I found exciting and fantastic about Japan. While at the same time, they give you an image of how ordinary life in Japan is, and at the same time that is combined with the surreal and eastern supernatural. Many things deal with souls being separated from their respective bodies, and in his universe, it seems quite natural. The books are a great read, and thuroughly recommended as a fresh perspective to western stories.

Could his thoughts be integrated into music? Where the supernatural can coexist with the normal, and still everything seems like the world we live in now? The supernatural acts as an explanatory factor for certain human conditions, probably such as they always have. This is part of what I want to examine during my 2 years of composition master studies.

Maybe these thoughts can be turned into an opera?

2 aug 2010 - Far into the new year

This year has been hectic in that I've written my exam concert for the bachelor degree in modern art music composition at the Stockholm music academy. The concert was held in an old reactor hall called R1, which has now been converted to a concert hall, but still with some industrial materials parts left there (no reactor or radioactivity left though).

Baroque, old/new counter-point and hard rock

The piece is entitled "Förstöra.Förgöra.Förändra", which translates as "Destroy,Eradicate,Change" and is written for Baroque ensemble and modern harp. Ever since I had taken a course in early music instrument knowledge, I had become interested in writing for earlier instruments, since they exhibit a sound world which I am not used to, so my music sounds fresh to me even though I have heard it many times. Their instruments are also pitched in 415 hz, which makes them sound one semi-tone below normal. Due to their construction, they sound better in certain keys than others (as few accidentals and flats as possible is good), while I can use the “worse” sounding keys to good effect.

The title comes from a quick mistranslation of the Meshuggah album "Destroy Erase Improve", from which I started to experiment around with different words with similar meaning to the original words(since all the words started on f in Swedish) and this is what came out as a good title. I started working on the piece in Japan, when I was last there, since I wanted to be in the country which inspired me so much, but look at my own music from afar to see what was exotic about it, and which styles and expressions would crop up when I was in a completely different surrounding. In a way, to dig out that which lies hidden in me, by exposing myself to something completely other yet still known to me.

On the subject on the venue, I had been planning for a longer time a larger and longer concert in this nuclear reactor hall. Using a baroque orchestra and a choir to come close to some inner human voice, and at the same time using a place which is 24 meters below ground, cut of from the world and at the same time so completely constructed by man and artificial. This combination of (egenskaper) i thought would suit my idea greatly. Circumstances did not come together to support such an idea, so I could only finish the Baroque part of the plan, but it turned out great.

The piece will soon be available to listen to in the audio section.

Mortal Online has been released, to which I've supplied the soundtrack. Check out the webpage www.mortalonline.com if you haven't already. Some of my music to the game is also on the audio section

18 nov 2009

Don't forget that "Some western wind" s going to be played this saturday 21 Nov in Sandviken, with Stina Hellberg on solo jazz harp (a blue Camac), and me playing vibraphone.
Concert starts at 17.00,
Conductor: Michael Bartosch!

More info is avalable on www.symfoniorkester.se

Welcome!

17 nov 2009

On my internet journeys I've encountered a posting of She - dance performance. The said performance was performed in Visby 2007 at the "February meeting"-concert between dancers and composers. The music consisted of me playing percussion to prerecorded electronics. Java, Peking and regular gongs were used, as well as cymbals. We tried to find an ancient and ethereal voice from the babelonian myths the piece was based upon, through thee use of electronics. All the while keeping the music fresh through improvising with the percussion. During the concert itself the electronics part broke down when there was 2 minutes left, neither of the dancers nor me knew if we should continue or not, but we did and we managed to end the piece in quite a satisfying way.

At this same concert for the sake of interest, Momentum 2 (for 2 percussion players) and Momentum 3 (for 3 perc) where eperformed by myself, Filip Melo and Julius Chmielewski. We wanted to perform music that was fun to play, and that sounded interesting for marimba, vibraphone, timpani and gongs. Mostly it was all just for our own sake and fun, which it was.

The dance performance was later turned into a film by Darya Allaf, with a new version of music by me, and the choreography by Anna Gordh-Humlesjö. Today I found it posted on youtube and thought that this might be interesting to share. It's funny how one's feelings towards a piece can change differently depending on the piece. This still feels, not quite like I've written it but still it's definitively from my sketch book. This is probably why I like it so much, so check it out on my videos page

Video: Darya Allaf
Music: Patrik Jarlestam
Choreography: Anna Gordh-Humlesjö
Dancers: Anna Gordh-Humlesjö
Josefin Bohlin
Song: Sanne Skjervik

26 October 2009

I will be performing vibraphone on the piece "Some western wind" for solo jazz harp and symphonic orchestra written by the harpist Stina Hellberg, and arranged by us both for Sandvikens symphony orchestra. This piece has been mentioned in the harpblog of Camac, famous harp makers in France.

"Some Western Wind" is inspired by the music of Dave Holland, Stina's favourite jazz musician, together with Afro-Cuban and Swedish folk elements. The work also fuses classical concerto and more improvisatory jazz forms. There is an extended harp solo, for example, where the double bass, vibraphone and percussion can form a jazz quartet with the harp and improvise together.

In other news, continuing the tradition of three.word.titles, my piece "Metal.Life.Rhythm for 2 percussionists and one drummer (a drummer is also a percussionist, but it's more fun to write it this way) will be premiered on the 26th of November at the Royal College of music in Stockholm at 19.00. Based upon polyrhythmical patterns present in mainly metal music and specifically Meshuggah's music, this piece is a force of heavy and hard rhythms to be reckoned with.

22 August 2009

For those of you who couldn't attend the exciting and quirky art music day in Hågelbyparken outside of Alby to listen to Tunnel.Light-Darkness (DnB piece for recorder and electric guitar+ring modulator, performed by EN.D.E can now hear it in full concert tempo at Fylkingen the 4 September at 19:30 I will be there for beer and chat (weather it's about video games, music, art or other fun and nerdy topics) after the concert.

See you there!

5 August 2009

As a sneak peek, 5 songs from the computer game Mortal Online has been added to the audio page. Check it out!

23 July 2009

I'm currently studying at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and in August I will be starting the last year of my bachelor degree. What does this mean for you? It means you have 2 fantastic concerts to look forward to in May next year. First of is a chamber opera for Swedish folk musicians, and the second one is my bachelor concert which will be hosted in the R1 experimantal art scene (a former nuclear reactor) situated in KTH (the Royal Technical College in Stockholm).
More on this will be posted later!.

I'm currently working on creating the music for the MMORPG Mortal Online developed by Star Vault in Malmö.

Below are the links for 2 videos containing original music I've made for the game, also available in the video section:
Teaser video
Trailer video