Research
Sven-David Sandström
biography by Per Broman
In this comprehensive biography about Sandström’s life and work, musicologist Per Broman recounts the context surrounding the composer’s major works, as well as details of his teaching career at the Royal College of Music (Stockholm) and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. This biography includes links to recordings and other resources related to Sandström’s compositions.
Formatted for Kindle
Language: English
Publication: October 2022
Research & Articles
Sven-David Sandström's Five Pictures from the Bible (2010)
by Joshua Bronfman
Abstract:
“This dissertation investigates Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström's Five Pictures from the Bible, set for six-part unaccompanied chorus and baritone solo, by examining the historical antecedents of the work's creation, and analyzing its musical structure. In particular, this study looks at the history of Swedish choral music, with a focus on the development of a cappella choral singing. Sandström's life and growth as a composer is also explored, with specific attention paid to the development of his unaccompanied choral works.”
Sitting next to Bach: the influence of J.S. Bach on Sven-David Sandström's Bach Motet Project (2014)
by James Christopher Franklin
Abstract:
“This study explores the extent to which Sven-David Sandström emulated the motets of J.S. Bach in the composition of his own motets. Further, this paper investigates these motets as a collection and examines two individual works within the collection as case studies for in-depth analysis. Ultimately, through analysis and discussion of the text, the division of text, the scoring of the motets, points of imitation, and specific compositional devices, the discussion explains how Sandström pays homage to Bach in the Motet Project primarily through the use of similar structural elements while maintaining his unique compositional voice to forge his own expressive path.”
by Dwight Jilek
Abstract:
“Beginning with his High Mass written in 1994, popular Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström modeled multiple compositions after famous canonical works using the same texts and/or instrumentation. Sandström wants to be compared to the greatest, specifically in how a twenty-first century composer responds to a text set , in the case of J.S. Bach's , over 250 years ago. His setting of Matthäuspassion (MP), which uses the same libretto as J.S. Bach, is his most extensive non-operatic work, one he considers his most significant, and likely his last work based on a preexisting model. This study 1) examines the influence of J.S. Bach's MP on Sandström's setting in the use of characters and chorales, 2) illustrates Sandström's compositional language in MP based on recent studies on his choral music, 3) describes his use of musical symbolism, and 4) discusses his religious and spiritual motivations behind the work, as well as his preferred uses in performance.”
En receptionsstudie av Sven-David Sandström och Anders Hill- borgs musik (2012)
by Hanna Fredholm
Abstract:
“Studien visar på genomgående tendenser i hur tonsättarna bemöts, samt på hur musikkriti- kernas åsikter om musiken reflekteras i deras egna uppfattningar om hur nutida konstmusik bör låta. Det genomgående intrycket av Hillborgs musik var att denna anses vara smart och välstruk- turerad. Den absoluta musiken till trots bringar även visuella bilder till sina åhörare. Sandströms musik anses i sin tur att vara påfallande vacker dock med en stor religiös påverkan. Negativa in- tryck bringas också fram i studien där Hillborg klandras för sin orkestrala innovativitet och Sand- ström för hans underhållningsmusik.”
by Joakim Tillman
Abstract:
“Sven-David Sandström (f. 1942) var en av de unga tonsättare som var minst påverkad av tendenser som nyromantik och nyenkelhet på 1970-talet. Istället komponerade han en komplex och strängt konstruerad klangmusik där Webern och Ligeti var de viktigaste förebilderna. Därför är det kanske förvånande att han under 80-talet blev den som kom att reagera starkast mot modernismen – inte bara i sin generation – utan bland svenska tonsättare över huvudtaget. Vändpunkten i Sandströms relation till modernismen kom i rekviet De ur alla minnen fallna (1979), liksom i de många verken för kör a cappella till texter av William Blake skrivna åren kring rekviet. Rekviet framhålls av både Jens Brincker (1985/86, s. 9) och Søren Møller Sørensen (1993, s. 151f ) som ett nyckelverk i Sandströms och den svenska konstmusikens vänd- ning från modernism till postmodernism. Sørensen skriver t ex att den modernis- tiska materialförnyelsen ifrågasattes genom den orena blandningen av romantiska klichéer och avancerad modernistisk materialbehandling. Vidare innebar ringaktan- det av uppdelningen mellan högt och lågt både ett effektivt uttrycksmedel och en problematisering av modernismens isolering och elitära väsen.”
Till minne av små fötter som drog bort: Teologier i Sven-David Sandströms Requiem (2022)
by Embla Trygg
Abstract:
“This essay investigates themes and theologies in Requiem: Mute the Bereaved Memories Speakusing a modified version of Material, Moral, Mysterious as presented in God's Song and Music's Meanings: Theology, Liturgy, and Musicology in Dialogue by James Hawkey, Ben Quash and Vernon White (2020). The analysis highlights the central themes victim/perpetrator and the Holocaust as well as sub-themes such as the game, Mary Had a Little Lamb and the sorrow of the children. The theologies found through the analysis are centred around belonging, longing, nothingness, and redemption. These theologies relate and reacts to the Holocaust as well as the existential state of being a human.”