Oslo Philharmonic's Chamber Series Benjamin Britten
Heinrich Sutermeister
Stephen Sondheim

"All we need is one knight who is so strong he can pull that sword from the stone. Then we will have a king again, at last!" Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) composed The Sword in the Stone as a score for a BBC Radio play for children. This piece tells the story of the orphan Wart, an awkward and clumsy boy. He dreams of becoming a knight who embarks on grand adventures, battling dragons, griffins, and giants. However, his destiny takes an unexpected turn, and he becomes the legendary King Arthur. The Sword in the Stone explores Arthur's boyhood, his friendship with his foster brother Kay, his training under the wizard Merlin, and the life-changing realization that he is the rightful king of England.

The medieval ballad Sven Svane recounts the tale of the giant Sven Vondved. Unlike Arthur, Sven dreams not of slaying giants but of playing the harp. His mother, unimpressed, insists he should be out fighting giants instead of plucking strings. Sven obeys, going on a rampage that includes killing giants, witches—and even his own mother. He eventually encounters a wanderer, challenging him to a riddle contest: “Now hear my questions, wandering man, and tell me if you can answer them.” Known as "life-or-death riddles," the wanderer’s survival depends on his correct answers. He answers every riddle correctly, and in many versions of the story, Sven rewards him with a gold ring.

Heinrich Sutermeister's (1910–1995) Serenade No. 1 is derived from his opera The Red Shoe, based on Wilhelm Hauff's fairy tale The Cold Heart. The story follows Peter Marmot, a coal miner who inherits his father’s trade. Dissatisfied with his hard life, Peter seeks quick wealth and recognition. He meets a glass-imp who grants him three wishes. Peter wishes for riches and a glass factory, but his lack of knowledge leads to bankruptcy. Desperate, he makes a deal with the evil spirit Dutch-Mike, trading his heart for success. With his new stone heart, Peter becomes wealthy but finds no joy. He loses everything, including his wife, whom he kills in anger. Regretful, Peter seeks the glass-imp’s help, outwits Mike, and regains his beating heart.

In Eric Ewazen’s (b. 1954) God’s World, the narrator experiences something entirely new. She feels a passion, love, and heightened appreciation for the world so intense that it feels as if she might burst, as if her body cannot contain the overwhelming beauty of the world. The text is drawn from the poem collection Three Lyrics of Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Ewazen himself arranged the three songs for trumpet and piano or marimba.

Solfager, from the Norwegian medieval ballad Solfager and the Serpent King, must have been an extraordinarily beautiful woman, as her name suggests. She is engaged to King David, but the Serpent King falls in love with her and devises a cunning plan to claim her. He gives her a sedative drink, causing everyone to believe she has died, and she is buried. While she lies in her grave, the Serpent King visits her and offers her a grim choice: remain in the grave and die or go with him.

In 1960, Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021) composed music for his friend and collaborator Arthur Laurents’ play, Invitation to a March, a sort of reverse Sleeping Beauty story. The play introduces us to the beauty Norma and her mother Lily, who plans for her daughter to marry a handsome and successful but dull lawyer. Norma falls asleep at the most inopportune times, especially when her fiancé talks about their safe and predictable future. It is only when she is kissed by Adam, a relatively poor and unambitious yet free-spirited man, that she begins to awaken. From that point, the story becomes a battle of wills between three mothers—Adam’s mother on one side and the two mothers of the prospective bride and groom on the other.