Porter, Porter… That’s always how you toast when drinking Porter, according to Porter Pelle’s owner Björn Lager. He and his little “Carnegie Hål” were an important inspiration for the Porter Suite, composed by Paula af Malmborg Ward.
Here’s what Paula herself writes about the creation of the work:
“Throughout my songwriting/composing life, beverages and maritime environments have been recurring themes. A gooseberry soda in the Pacific Ocean (composed in Svartlögafjärden) and a Piña Colada (composed in the North Sea) from the early 1980s are now joined by the Porter Suite.
When I stepped into Carnegie Hål in the spring of 2020, the room below the Porter Pelle restaurant, I immediately felt a longing to hear the beautiful old piano in the room resonate with 12 tuned porter bottles. Inaccuracy triggers me.
The environment around Nya Varvet, right by the Göta River where I also have my workspace, determines the conditions. The humid air can be modified to some extent but clearly shapes the everyday life for those of us who live and work here.
The piano in Carnegie Hål has its own sound and intonation, and I use porter bottles from different vintages which, together with the old piano, create a sound world never heard before. The porter bottles are carefully selected and dated by Porter Pelle’s manager Björn Lager, who has been a great help in the creative process.
The working title of the piece is “Buteljresan”. It constitutes movement two “Portersviten” and will be performed by my friend and composer colleague Palle Dahlstedt and myself in a streamed version during the FRONTSIDE – Gothenburg International Chamber Music Festival in January 2021.
Movements one and three will be performed live together with you, dear audience, at a time when we can be in the same room again.
Enjoy, see you and hear you!
Carnegie Hål in December 2020
Paula af Malmborg Ward, composer”
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