“I think you should have an open mind for everything, for all kinds of impressions“
In this interview we meet the Swedish composer Benjamin Staern who tells us about his musical setting of Tranströmer’s poetry collection The Funeral Gondola (Sorgegondolen), “Tranströmersånger”.
Staern’s Tranströmer Songs (2009) was commissioned by the Dutch New European Ensemble. The recording is from the New European Ensemble’s concert at the Palladium in Malmö as part of the 2013 Connect Festival.
Tomas Tranströmer has meant a lot to Swedish cultural life, and his poems resonate strongly in every one of us. By sharing Benjamin Staern’s piece, we would also like to highlight how the poet’s words live on through contemporary artists’ expression.