Helios

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Description +
- Duration: 2-3 min.
  
  Helios was, according to Greek mythology, the sun god, but also the guardian of the seas and the god of gift of being able to see. Every morning he went across the sky with his golden chariot drawn by fiery stallions. When he reached the Hesperides (country of evening) in the west, he went back over Okeanos water by boat and the sunset was created.
  
  When I wrote Blue Memories a couple of years ago, I chose an enamel painting by Swedish artist, Bengt Berglund from late 60's as cover for the work. This painting I chose is part of a series of other enamel paintings by Berglund. For a few years now, I have been thinking of writing music for the remaining paintings in the series.
  
  Helios, Twilight Garden and Blue Memories are related to each other in terms of harmony, rhythm and character. The three pieces are written as standalone pieces, however the three pieces works well together as one substantial piece with several movements in it.
Instrumentation +
- Marimba
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About the composer +
- Daniel Berg is a Swedish composer, musician and professor in classical percussion. He combines the role of writing music with being a versatile musician and teaches solo percussion and chamber music at the University College of Music in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Örebro in Sweden.
  
  In his passion to promote the marimba as a solo- and chamber music instrument, Daniel has worked intimately with a number of composers who have written original music for the instrument. This includes more than 250 world premieres for solo and chamber works. Daniel Berg is an artist of Bergerault Marimbas and Elite Mallets.
  
  As a composer Daniel has written a lot for percussion published by Edition Svitzer like his Kroumata for percussion sextet, Images for Percussion Duo and Yán Jiāng (Magma) for solo marimba - a commission from the Taiwan World Percussion Competition 2020.
Reviews +
- Review (Percussive Notes, May 2014)
  
  This three‐minute piece is another offering by Daniel Berg in a series of solo works inspired by Swedish artist Bengt Berglund. Named after the character Helios from Greek mythology, Berg paints his aural canvas with texturally‐rich sweeping melodic gestures contrasted with pulsating melodic entities laden with forward momentum. While a variety of four‐mallet stroke types are required to perform this work, once learned, the piece will “play itself.” Berg’s logical approach to one‐hand accompaniment, as well as permutations, aid the performer as musical material transfers smoothly through the various modulations and tonal areas highlighted in the piece.
  
  In addition to Berg’s idiomatic writing and sticking patterns, marimbists will appreciate the quasi ABA architecture of the work, which brings back difficult licks from the beginning for an appropriate finish to this rich solo. This piece will be suitable in a variety of settings, whether assigned to a hot‐shot high school marimbist for contest, a college senior recital, or a marimba competition. On par with similar works by Sammut and Burritt, don’t let this solo slip off your radar!
  
  —Joshua D. Smith
Credits +
- Front Cover graphics and layout: Ronni Kot Wenzell
  Enamel painting: Bengt Berglund
  Engraving: Johan Svitzer
  Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
  Copyright © Edition SVITZER
  www.editionsvitzer.com

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