Composer Staffan Biorklund-Jullander writes of his new album: “All music (except Bellman) on this [album] is either improvised or composed by me. Part in a freer form, others with a more solid structure. As a bonus, there is an arrangement of the first movement from Mozart’s Symphony no. 40, which I did for choir and piano. My relationship to the art of improvisation has, over the years as a musician, followed me like a shadow. It has always been there, I used to say: I play from scores just for a living, but as an improviser I work as an artist. I also have divided my musical life in two parts: as a soloist, (where I improvise a lot) and as an accompanist, when it is very practical to use scores, of course. But as mentioned, my real “I” does not belong to the world of written music, unless I compose music myself. Then this will have another importance for me. My entire musical history is about the polarization of improvisation versus scored music. I cannot live without the notes, but yet feel that improvisations are suppressed by scored music…”
