Duo Gelland is a Swedish-German violin duo on the international classical scene. It was founded in 1994.
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Duo Gelland was founded in 1994. Their early recordings of Cantus gemellus by Dieter Acker and the fiercely demanding one hour long cycle for two violins (1951) by Allan Pettersson showed the true potentials of the violin duo, inspiring many composers to turn to this medium. Duo Gelland received over 100 dedications, among them duos by: Giorgio Netti, Bernd Franke, Alexander Keuk, Madeleine Isaksson, Birgitte Alsted, Kerstin Jeppsson, Ingvar Karkoff, Maurice Karkoff, Olov Franzén, Gunnar Bucht, Carin Bartosch Edström, Rolf Martinsson, Erika Förare, Miklós Maros, Gerhard Samuel, Johan Ramström, Paula af Malmborg Ward, Marie Samuelsson, Peter Schuback, Victoria Bond, Anders Hultqvist, Max Käck, Ole Lützow-Holm, Nikolaus Brass, Michael Fiday, Justin Rubin.
Duo Gelland also premiered duos by other composers - never performed due to lack of permanent violin duos - by Werner Wolf Glaser, Erika Förare, Oleg Gotskosik, Ture Rangström. Further important duos belonging to their repertory are those by Luigi Nono, James Dillon, Olga Neuwirth, Giacinto Scelsi, Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Jacqueline Fontyn. Duo Gelland's performance of Traumwerk by James Dillon was filmed by Johan Ramström. It was awarded the Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2008. Another award is the Interpreter’s Prize of the Society of Swedish Composers (FST). The inscription reads: They take on the new music with an overwhelming empathy and a virtually feverish intensity, catching the audience in a bubble of absolute presence.
Duo Gelland received dedications of works for violin duo and orchestra or ensemble by Harold Blumenfeld (premiered 1996), Ingvar Karkoff (premiere 2009), Olov Franzén (premiere 2010), Olof Lindgren (premiered 2002). Håkan Larsson (premiered 2002). January 2003 Duo Gelland premiered Håkan Larsson's Angesicht in Angesicht - inspired by Ingmar Bergman's films - for violin duo and orchestra in the Berliner Philharmonie. Spring 2003 two works for violin duo and choir by Hans-Erik Dahlgren and Olof Lindgren were premiered together with Dresdner Kammerchor and Hans-Christoph Rademann. In Berliner Philharmonie 2006 together with the RIAS Kammerchor and Hans-Christoph Rademann, Duo Gelland premiered works for violin duo and choir by Sunleif Rasmussen, Peter Schuback and Håkan Larsson.
The dramatic and physical qualities of Duo Gelland's stage presence has been cultivated in cross over productions e.g. in provocatively moving The donkey on Mars, text Kasëm Trebeshina (Albania), in collaboration with choreographer Britta Hanssen and composer Birgitte Alsted. Here the synthesis of emotion, motion, word and sound is explored in a mode which could be referred to as violin theater.
Duo Gelland's growing historic repertory involves research in archives and libraries. The musicologist Ulrich Mazurowicz points out that the second half of the 18th century into the beginning of the 19th century was a period when string duos were printed more often than any other constellation including songs, operas, string quartets, music for orchestra or piano. Of all these string duos the major part was violin duos. Duo Gelland's continuous study of historic literature on music performance, theory and philosophy is a source of inspiration facing both their old and their new repertoire. Characteristic for Duo Gelland's work with new music is the close collaboration with composers and the search for an individual world of sounds for each new composition approached. Also important are the frequent informal presentations of new duos to children in the class room. This mostly takes place in the municipality of Strömsund, Jämtland, northern Sweden, where Duo Gelland is artist in residence since 2002. Duo Gelland considers the work with children artistically fruitful.
The teachers of the violinists were Max Rostal, Walter Levin and each one of the other members of the LaSalle Quartet, Ricardo Odnoposoff, Gerhart Hetzel, Kurt Sassmannshaus, Ingeborg Scheerer, Josef Grünfarb, Machie Oguri-Kudo and for shorter periods Valery Klimov, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Pierre d'Archambeau, composition and theory Allen Sapp.