Manhem meets Martin & Helen

Karlstad 140510

Photo and © Maria Nehro

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At 16:00 the first of this Saturday’s two concerts started; “Manhem meets Martin & Helen” in Karlstad Sundsta Aula, where, beside the Song Association Manhem with Helen and Martin Östergren, also the string quartet Freja Strings, with Hanna Helgegren on first violin participated, and also Ulric Johansson on bass. From our seats we could see how the choir members took place on stage in the darkness, dressed in black suits and orange silk ties, and soon after that choirmaster Erik Rynefors introduced the concert. It would largely be Martin Östergren’s day. He hadn’t composed all the songs that were played, but many of them, and was in some way involved in most parts of the program. He also performed more songs on his own than he usually does in concerts where he accompanies Helen.

The program we listened to was varied and beautiful, and contained both set poems to music and musical music written and/or arranged by Martin, and a whole lot more. The following program is reproduced with the organizer’s permission, and not published in any particular order:

Helen:
– Vårens första dag
Text & music: Laleh

– Gabriellas sång
Music: Stefan Nilsson
Text: Py Bäckman

– Du är min man
Text: Björn Ulvaeus
Music: Benny Andersson

Martin Östergren:
– Hare – music: Martin Östergren
– Myggan – music: Martin Östergren

Sonnets by William Shakespeare:
Music & arr: Martin Östergren
Swe. translation: Lena R Nilsson
 – Sonett 22 -Min spegel övertygar inte mig – Martin
 – Sonett 112 -Din sympati och kärlek ger mig tröst – Martin
 – Sonett 144 -Två kärleksandar strider i mitt bröst – Freja Strings + Manhem
 – Sonett 18 -Skall jag dig likna vid en sommardag – Helen
 –  Sonett 116 -Låt ingenting få stå i vägen för – Helen
 – Sonett 60 -Som vågor närmar sig en stenig strand – Helen
 – Sonett 131 -En grym och hänsynslös tyrann du är – Helen
 – sonett 95 -Hur skön den ter sig skammen som du bär – Martin
 – Sonett 102 -Stark är min kärlek om den än tycks svag – Freja Strings + Manhem

Freja Strings:
– Hanna flyger
Music: Martin Östergren

Tango Ballet 
Music: Astor Piazzolla
Arr: José Bragato

Manhem Song Association:
– Gryning vid havet
Music: Hugo Alfvén

Text: Sten Selander

– Ångbåtssång
Text & music: Otto Lindblad

– I Furuskogen
Music: Wilhelm Pet. Berger
Text by H. Nyblom

– Drömmar
Music: Otto Olsson
Text: Erik Axel Karlfeldt

– En litten låt ôm vårn
Music: Felix Körling
Text: Gustaf Fröding

– Kung Liljekonvalje
Music: David Wikander
Text: Gustaf Fröding

– Glad såsom fågeln
Music: Prins Gustaf
Text: Herman Sätherberg

Carmencita Rockefeller:
– En vals
– Livet är en gåva
– Gudinna
– Mänskobarn
Music & arr: Martin Östergren
Text: Rikard Bergqvist

Life is a hit song:
– Annars vore jag inte jag
– Om inte du så inte jag
– Som skapta för varann
Music: Fredrik Kempe
Text: Jonas Gardell
Arr: Martin Östergren

Helen wore a red dress with black floral pattern, black tights and boots, and her hair looked just beautiful. The members of Freja Strings were dressed entirely in black. Halfway through the concert, which was performed in a single pass without any break, the choir members took off their jackets and revealed neon bright orange suspenders to their white shirts, which effectfully lit up in the dark. The average age of the choir was relatively high, but an occasional young face could be seen. Erik Rynefors impressed not only as a choir director and presenter, but also as a key harp player to newly written music – composed by Martin, of course! It was also exciting to hear some new songs from the upcoming musical Life is a hit song, and many of the sonnets were fantasticly beautiful in both melody and lyric. Overall, this was a concert with many different elements in the program. Time passed all too quickly, even though we attended both concerts this Saturday!

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