The fact that a Swedish composer devotes an interview book is one of the exceptions. It happened when Leif Aare published his book about Allan Pettersson’s music.
Now that American Aram Yardumian music critic and assistant professor of anthropology, after years of work and interviews at the home of composer Tommie Haglund, has compiled this interview book, it is even more remarkable because the initiative came from outside.
At the same time, it is no surprise that the interviewer comes from an international perspective: Haglund’s music has been discovered abroad in parallel with the development that led to his well-established position as one of Sweden’s leading composers. This was manifested with Stockholm Concert Hall’s composer weekend 2019 dedicated to Haglund, but even more remarkable is that Halmstad has established an international Tommie Haglund festival with guest orchestras and where musicians at the highest level perform.
The book provides an introduction to Tommie Haglund’s extremely rich musical world: Haglund’s music is such that it speaks to a wide audience but in a qualified way. It is a spiritual revelation in an otherwise spirit-poor time.
Such a book is an important contribution to the literature on Swedish art music and it is written in such a way that it is accessible to the multi-headed audience that has taken Haglund’s music to heart.
Erik Wallrup
Associate professor of musicology, Södertörn University
Music critic in Svenska Dagbladet
Member of the Royal Academy of Music
