For many years I have been interested in the life and works of Lewis Carroll, even though some of his novels and poems are more or less forgotten by the general audience, at least in Sweden, as most people in this country think that Alice in Wonderland was written by Walt Disney! So maybe Disney simplified the Alice story too much, maybe the Goth movement of today have mystified it, but if you read all of Carroll’s poems carefully you may find his more personal words, melancholy thought about life and love, written in a very subtle way. As those poems sang directly to my own heart, the melodies came easy, and I thought that if I can make his words heard once more I will be most honored.
Back in 1998 I started to write melodies for some of Carroll’s poems and The Three Sunsets was one of the first where I discovered the wonderful rhythm and the hidden melodies of his poems. For me, the big obstacle in this project is to master the language good enough, at least good enough not to distract the listener from the poetry itself. Although I’m not native English, I can only hope that the pronunciation will be acceptable to the British audience. As a matter of fact, I had my doubts in compiling this material, foreigner as I am, but I could not let it go. Many words are old and, after all, Carroll sometimes bent the language to the extreme. He tried to get the most out of every single line, often with hidden messages and alternative ways to read its content. Luckily, the poems are quite strict, compared to, for example, Sylvie & Bruno (in a way a precursor to the story of Harry Potter, but with intellectual quality).
After a kind response from Mr. Mark Richards, Chairman of The Lewis Carroll Society, I have now been encouraged to record some of these poems, a collection of songs scheduled to be released in late 2008. The recording period started in an old church at the countryside in the middle of Sweden. As this material is very personal I wanted to avoid "classical" or "opera" settings heard in some other interpretations and instead illustrate the solitary poet’s life and keep it simple and private. Thus, the music will be recorded "live" as it is.
Unfortunately, I had to abort my plans of using this beautiful church due to a major renovation of its interior which will take months. It is funny how many different turns this project have taken over the years, almost as Mr. Carroll himself tell me how he would like it to be (as he always did to his illustrators). After canceling the church, I now intend to record at least the vocals outdoor, in the forest. And maybe it’s not so far fetched after all. Carroll’s first published poem, Solitude, is all about that, finding solitude, far away from the human world. I guess this will not be the last surprise for me, but as long as it leads to something new I will follow the trail. Another thing that almost cancelled the whole project was the fact that I initially planned to record this music together with other musicians to get the genuine live-feeling of the performance. But recently, one after another departed and now I am alone with a project meant for at least four musicians. So, dear listener, all of you who have sent me such friendly letters and postcards, please be patient. What ever happen, the music will be recorded and released and once again I am deeply sorry about the delay, but sometimes one man can control very little of the turning of the world around him.
Until the official release you can follow the progress above where I will upload assorted demo-recordings for online-listening. The guidelines I decided to follow from the very beginning of this project were that the music should feel natural and close, rather than a baroque studio production. These recordings are just a way of introducing the music to a live-performance as concerts is the main goal. Until now, cd:s have often been the final product and concerts a way of presenting the recordings live. This project is the other way around - concerts are my final goal while recordings are just an introduction. As the views of recorded music are changing rapidly into a more dynamic experience than just a physical token I decided to let you follow the progress of this collection of songs while they evolve during the recording process. Usually the listener just knows about the finished "product" but as I have been curious myself of other artist’s way of composing and recording I wanted to share my very own creative process. It’s not a blog in any sense, as I am not planning to write a diary about this project (even though it most certainly would have been full of misfortunes, intrigues and obstacles, but also about thankfulness, inspiration and adventures). What I decided to do is to let the music speak for itself. Hopefully these ever-changing test-recordings will give you a more intimate view of this rare opportunity that has been given me. So please take in consideration that the following sound files could be incomplete and that they could also be replaced and/or re-arranged at any time until the final recordings finds their own way out of the whirlwinds of creativity. Finally, I want to thank Pontus Nilsson & Magnus Eriksson for joining me while recording these early versions of the songs.
My deepest regards goes to Mr. Mark Richards and Mr. Edward Wakeling for their kind help.
Lewis Carroll, the pen-name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), was a mathematical lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford. Writing poetry, and stories for children, was a sideline – not his principal wealth-earning occupation. Nevertheless the two books, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871), made him both rich and famous. Throughout his life he read and composed poetry. He enjoyed the poems of key Victorian writers such as Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Christina Rossetti. From his youth, until the last years of his life, he wrote poetry – some just humorous nonsense, some filled with hidden meanings, and some serious poems about love and life. Probably the best known poem he wrote is called “Jabberwocky,” which begins “’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves…” It is full of invented words, some that have now entered the English language, such as “chortle” and “galumph.”