CLASSICAL WORKS
Elegy for Our World (for Göran Söllscher)
INSTRUMENTATION: Classical guitar
YEAR OF COMPOSITION: 2025
ABOUT
"The piece is a response to the state of the world, sprung from an urge to express the dispair that I, and so many others, have felt during these dark and difficult times. It is also a message of hope, and most of all: a tribute to all the people fighting to make this world a brighter and more compassionate place."
/August Björn
Travel log, first entry (for Anders Jormin)
INSTRUMENTATION: Double bass
YEAR OF COMPOSITION: 2024
ABOUT
Anders Jormin was an important mentor for August during their years at the Academy of Muisc & Drama in Gothenburg. The piece was composed as a retirement gift for Jormin during August's last year of Master studies in 2024.
Inspired by Jormin's role as a trail blazing bass player, the piece challenges old conventions of contrabass writing and aims to add something fresh and exciting to the solo reportoire.
Concerto for Euphonium & Orchestra
(for Johannes Forsberg)
INSTRUMENTATION: Euphonium & symphony orchestra (with additional arrangement for euphonium and piano)
YEAR OF COMPOSITION: 2021
ABOUT
A three-movement concerto composed for, and in close collaboration with, award-winning euphonium soloist Johannes Forsberg. Each movement is inspired by a poem or phrase exploring our experience of light.
The following excerpt is from the 2nd movement and draws inspiration from the Greek Goddess of Dawn, Eos, as portrayed in the Iliad: "Eos, watchful in the reddening dawn, threw wide her crimson doors and rose filled halls".
Through the Unknown, Remembered Gate
INSTRUMENTATION: String nonet
YEAR OF COMPOSITION: 2022
ABOUT
Inspired by the poetry of T.S. Eliot and the circular patterns in "Four Quartets", this is one of August's most personal and evocative chamber works.
...it’s remarkably good and has depth, colour and most interesting harmonic combinations.
/Paul Bateman*
*Paul Bateman has conducted over 30 albums with The City of Prague Philharmonic and has worked with many of the finest orchestras in the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and many more.