Uendelighedsvals (2025)
(Infinity Waltz)

Uendelighedsvals (Infinity Waltz) was commissioned by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra for the 100th anniversary of Jacob Gade’s famous Tango Jalousie in 2025. The assignment was to compose something based on Jacob Gade’s music.

I chose two slightly lesser-known melodies from Gade’s output, the two minor-key waltzes Efterår and Valse Pleurant, and combined them in various ways to create a new waltz. I also brought in the influence of composer Per Nørgård (1932-2025). Using his compositional technique, the infinity series, I constructed a tone row based on the opening notes of Valse Pleurant. This series weaves its way through the piece in different forms like a third element to juggle alongside the two original waltzes.

In addition, the letters in the name Gade are of course identical to the violin’s open strings: G, D, A, and E and I even used this in the composition, partly as pizzicato on the open strings, forming the name GADE, and partly as octave harmonics (natural tones) on the same strings, creating a “GADE chord”.

The waltz features a great deal of pizzicato playing, combined with harp and two percussionists who play vibraphone, cowbells, and temple gongs. This group of instruments often forms a kind of foundation over which the various melodic birds fly. Through the use of metric modulation, a technique where an element of the previous tempo subtly becomes the basis for a new one, the waltz shifts from slow to fast and back to slow again.

And the infinite? It refers of course to the infinity series, but also to the way the waltz unfolds as one long, unbroken line throughout the music, giving the impression that it continues even after the piece has ended.

Uendelighedsvals is dedicated to Jacob Gade in memoriam.

Britta Byström, 2025