PRESS — kristinetjogersen.no

Nattliv/ Night Lives

The most impressive theatrical work I experienced at Ultima 2023 was Night Lives, from the irrepressible Kristine Tjøgersen. Equal parts mischievous and childlike, Tjøgersen’s responses to and inspirations from the natural world are always as mind boggling as they are imaginative, and in recent years have been treated to stunning realisations…. To write about Tjøgersen’s work is always to do it a disservice; it really needs to be experienced, and considering the amount of effort (and time, and money) it must take to put on performances of her work, one can only hope that her bold, ambitious pieces aren’t one-off triumphs like this but will have the opportunity to travel and be experienced by as many people as possible.

Simon Cummings - 5against4.com

Between Trees:

If any single work stood out it was Tjøgersen’s Between Trees, a potent and imaginative free-flowing evocation of nature viewed through the infinite possibilities of the orchestral prism. A menagerie of sharp-scented imagery, ranging in intensity from whispered forest rustling and bird calls to burgeoning sunrise, yet bound by cohesive structural logic, it elicited sparkling definition from the SSO under conductor and Tectonics co-curator Ilan Volkov. You could sense echoes of Sibelius in the closing horn motifs, but only fleetingly.
Ken Walton - The Scotsman

“Volkov saved the best till last, Tjøgersen’s Between Trees, its provocative colours and delicate nuances magically assimilating in a performance that matched ear-catching detail and ample literalism (the odd cuckoo among a clamour of birdcalls and other allusions to the natural world) with the collective clout of its structural arch. Tjøgersen’s background observance of traditional vocabulary made her exploration of new horizons all the more exciting.”
Ken Walton - VoxCarnyx.com - The Voice for Classical Music and Opera in Scotland

Vor allem aber gefiel das Stück „Between Trees“ der norwegischen Komponistin Kristine Tjøgersen, das durch eine unglaubliche Vielfalt an Klängen glänzte, die das Leben im Wald nachzeichneten – einschließlich der Kommunikation zwischen Wurzeln und Pilzgeflechten. Es gab Jubel des Publikums.
Mario-Felix Vogt - Berliner Morgenpost

Ebenso beschwingt, aber auf ganz andere Weise ist Kristine Tjøgersens Between Trees, dem Titel gemäß voller Wind und Klöppeln und hereinrufender Käuze, aber doch alles andere als simpel naturalistisch. Zwischen heiterem Blubbern am Rand des Klangs und kurzen Aufschwüngen zu vollen, ja betörenden romantischen Bläsermischungen findet sich alles in dieser herrlich unaufgeräumten Komposition. Sogar eine Art großer Orchester-Apotheose, doch ohne dass das Stück dafür seine Schrulligkeit aufgäbe. Tjøgersen ist an den ersten beiden Abenden klare Publikumsfavoritin.
Albrecht Selge, Hundert11- Konzertgänger in Berlin

Die vielgestaltigste Musik des Abend verdankte sich der deutschen Erstaufführung von Kristine Tjøgersen Beetween Trees (2021), eine Hommage an die Natur und deren akustische Verlautbarungen. Die norwegische Komponistin schickte den Hörer dabei - ober- und unterirdisch - tief in den Wald (fressende Eichhörnchen und Eichelhäher inklusive) und verwandelte den Orchestersatz in ein weit verzweigtes „Pilzgeflecht". Tjøgersens nach allen Seiten hin offene Klangsprache kennt weder Scheu vor Melodien und klaren Rhythmen noch vor differenzierten Geräuschfarben. Wer hier jedoch mit kitschiger Idylle rechnete, der irrte. Beetween Trees überraschte mit ständigen Perspektivwechseln (wenn Naturgeräusche sich plötzlich in einen Walzer verwandeln oder eine Fülle tonalen Wohllauts triggern) und einer Vielfalt an Farben und Artikulationen, die nie vordergründig oder abgegriffen daherkamen. Das Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin und Susanne Blumenthal ließen den Klangzauber mit kammermusikalischer Finesse in allen Farben funkeln.
Dirk Wieschollek - Das Orchester 1/3 30.03.2023

BOWER:

......nothing could have prepared me for her new piece BOWER, the world première of which was the finale of soundinitiative’s performance......BOWER unfolded as something of a ritual itself, beginning in darkness as a solo act of assemblage. Others gradually joined, in the process becoming a highly elaborate and beautiful musical and physical counterpoint.... BOWER played out as an extended exercise in fantastical, inscrutable pseudo-anthropology, in which large fronds were ceremoniously placed as decoration into the innards of an upright piano. The music veered between onomatopoeic sounds that typified much of the piece and synth-driven episodes that at first seemed alien and strange but soon became naturalised as the authentic language of Tjøgersen’s reinvention of the bowerbird. Climaxing in a large-scale tutti / dance, where each performer in turn took centre stage to ‘display’, the work concluded back in darkness, with everyone asleep beneath a shining moon. It was one of a number of performances at Borealis 2022 where nobody seemed to want to leave afterwards, preferring to say and soak in what remained of the wonderfully strange, heightened atmosphere
5against4.com

Som publikum får eg ei kjensle av at Tjøgersen har vore heilt fri og teke i mot innfall med kjærleik i den kreative prosessen. Scenograf Maja Nilsen og koreograf Julie Desprairie er perfekt matcha med Tjøgersens uttrykk. I Bower blir det smått komiske med på å med truverde løfte fram eit økologisk alvor som ligg i dette stykket. På utsida av den svarte boksen er eg i stuss, og eg elskar at førestillinga har gjort dette med meg – meir!
Torkjell Hovland - Ballade.no

Adagio & Beethovenfest:

The last piece of this engaging and thoughtful set was by Tjøgersen, who was commissioned to compose a piece for Beethoven’s 250 birthday anniversary that referenced his last piano sonata, no. 111, once described as the “first boogie-woogie composition”. This clever piece was accompanied by a seventies film instructing middle-aged audience disco dance moves and somehow this matching of Beethoven-inspired music, disco, and swinging boogie-woogie made perfect sense.
Eyal Hareuveni - freejazzblog.org

Portrait concert Ultima festival:

«Kristine Tjøgersen er årets vinner av Arne Nordheims musikkpris, og siste konsert på Ultimafestivalen var viet hennes lekende musikalske univers. Det er en egen direkthet i Tjøgersens musikk. Musikken er preget av leken presisjon og en berkelsesverdig klarhet, gjerne med naturen og dens lyder som utgangspunkt... En bemerkelsesverdig undring over naturen»
-Aksel Dalmo Tollåli - Aftenposten

Piano Concerto:

«Det mest oppsiktsvekkende verket var Kristine Tjøgersens pianokonsert.
Tjøgersens lydopptak fra en skog på Sørlandet bidro til å skape en sammenheng mellom skogens indre og flygelets indre i et verk der solisten Ugelvik var minst like mye perkusjonist, fotograf og performance-artist som pianist.»
-Maja Skanding - Ballade.no

«Det er noe rørende, noe merkelig bevegende over dette verket, en opplevelse av noe stort, noe helt uventet og fremmed som bryter frem.»
- Petter Larsen - Bergens tidende

Bioluminescence

«Here was a composer demonstrating love and affection for the wonders of the natural world, which of itself implied something far more immediate and pressing in terms of the keen sense of urgency it provoked, that such wonders should be protected»

Simon Cummings - 5against4.com

«Kristine has a unique sound world and Bioluminescence inspired us all with its concept, originality and beauty»,
-Edward Gardner - harmonien.no

Life in the Woods

«Tjøgersen verfolgt mit der Inszenierung einer Talkshow, in der ein schwedischer Gitarrengott seinen eigenen Dokumentarfilm präsentiert, eine originelle, absurdwitzige Idee. Besonders gut funktionierte ihre Musik als Begleitung zum Film”
-Marie-Therese Rudolph - MusikTexte

GLAM

«But the best piece of all was Kristine Tjøgersen’s Glam. Suddenly a most fascinating counterpoint takes place between the physical movements of the music and the strange action going on in the video. It’s a funny piece, playing intelligently with collage effects. It has nothing to do with Richard Strauss, but hardly with Lachenmann either. It’s the music of today.»
-Magnus Haglund- Tempo

Mistérios do Corpo

«Another highlight of the festival appeared on the BIT20 String Quartet’s new chamber music program on March 11th with Kristine Tjøgersen’s Mistérios do Corpo…The laugh-out-loud result put the brilliant technical ability of the quartet on full display while engaging the audience in a clever way.»
- Amanda Cook - icareifyoulisten.com

«Idet ensembleklang og bildebevegelse samkjøres, får stykket en slående tydelig, gestisk overbevisende og samtidig hylende komisk karakter… Tjøgersen skaper her et spill i meningsdannelsen som er både dypt og upretensiøst… lysende instrumentert… et originalt, og umiskjennelig musikalsk, språk.»
- Emil Bernhardt - Ballade.no

We should get to know each other

«Kristine Tjøgersen arbeitet klanginstallativ: “We should get to know each other” (2016) für Klarinette, Violoncello, Klavier und Film ohne Bilder. Bis diese sich dazugesellen: Tanzszenen aus den 1960ern aus Bollywood. Neuen Musik mit Temperament und Humor - bei der bedeutungschwangeren Avantgarde eher die Ausnahme. Bravo.»
-Alexander Dick - Badischen Zeitung

Radiolarie

«Botanisk Hage sitt sterkaste augeblikk kjem frå Kristine Tjøgersen og hennar Radiolarie»
-Torkjell Hovland - Ballade.no

Travelling Light 2

«Kristine Tjøgersens verk Travelling Light 2 blir en etterlengtet oppstrammer av struktur, og det formelig sitrer av kompositorisk talent fra første til siste takt.»
- Emil Bernhardt - Ballade.no