The name and music of Ruben Sverre Gjertsen surfaced internationally in 2006 when his work 'Circles' was commissioned and performed by Pierre Boulez and the Lucerne Festival Academy. Gjertsen's beautiful scores have now inspired the highly regarded contemporary music ensemble BIT20 and conductor Pierre-André Valade to record seven of his pieces for this new CD.
Norwegian composer Ruben Sverre Gjertsen was born in 1977. The minute detail in his scores evoke a particularly vibrant and plastic musical material, where the richly orchestrated textures appear almost as solid objects, tempting us to reach out and touch them. The music appeals to many aspects of our senses, not only to that of listening, as the sound revolves around rubbing, rasping, and scratching sounds. Sometimes these rough, grainy sounds are violent and intense, at other times they are fragile and tender or sparkling and transparent.
The piece “Gamelan Terrains” was commissioned by BIT20 Ensemble and premiered at the Bergen Festival in 2009. BIT20 was founded in Bergen, Norway in 1989. Consisting of 15 musicians, the ensemble has commissioned and premiered nearly 100 works and released 23 albums. The ensemble has performed at many major international venues for contemporary music, including the Festival Agora (IRCAM Centre Pompidou, France), Festival Précences (Radio France), Soundstreams (Canada), Transart (Italy), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, at the Barbican Centre (England), and in Russia at Moscow and St Petersburg.
