Music for Blue Days

In 2008 Aagaard-Nilsen wrote a quartet for violin, cello, piano, and percussion which he called Blue Fragments. Here he used a little theme as a ritornello, the part of a rondo that is interrupted by contrasting interludes and repeated a num- ber of times in the course of a piece. Blue Fragments was premiered in 2009. Later the same year Aagaard-Nilsen was commissioned to write a piece for tuba and harp by the Portuguese tuba virtuoso Sérgio Carolino. Aagaard-Nilsen wished to use the ritornello theme once again, but this time as a tranquil melody, as found in Music for Blue Days. The composition was premiered by the Norwegian tuba star Eirik Gjerdevik together with harpist Johannes Wik of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
Recorded by Eirik Gjerdevik and Anneke Hodnett on Lawo Classics (LWC 1039)

How to describe the colour blue in music? «Blue», for my part, has to be understood both as harmonic thinking and musical character - a certain feeling. I have written several pieces where I explore this. 

Growing up in Lofoten (above the arctic circle) you get a very special light during winter. Even with no sun to be seen for many weeks, you sometimes get a fantastic blue light. I like the double feeling: the darkness beeing coloured.
The music, like in Music for Blue Days, is sometimes a bit melancholic: You realise that you miss someone. Or it's just another rainy day.