The "Sonata alla Ricercare" (1950) reflects Bäck's intensified interest in older music, particularly Baroque ideals and the concept of 'ricercare' linked to polyphony and searching.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bäck never confined his music to a fixed formal scheme; instead, he started with an emotional sensation and allowed the content to define the form, seeking individual paths amidst the stylistic chaos of his time.
Composition History
Bäck's earliest piano work, the "Expansive Preludes" (1949), has a strong connection to string music, with two movements also existing in a string quartet version.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Bäck was fascinated by the piano's percussive possibilities and its variable yet constant tonal character, finding new dimensions in an instrument that cannot offer a single pure interval.
Composer Biography
Sven-Erik Bäcks, though known as a string composer and viola player, composed for piano throughout his career, approaching the instrument objectively.
Performer Biography
Roland Pöntinen, the pianist on this album, was born in 1963 and has studied with notable figures like Menahem Pressler and György Sebök, touring extensively as a soloist and chamber musician since his debut at age 17.
Historical Context
The "Expansive Preludes" caused a stir in the Monday Group, a circle of friends, because its meditative style did not align with the Hindemith ideals strongly defended after World War II.
