NIELS MARTHINSEN (b.1963): Symphony No. 2 "Snapshot Symphony", Concerto for 3 Trombones and Orchestra "The Shadow of the Bat", Snow White's Mirror - Opera Trailer, The King of Utopiaville Demo.

Description: The symphony is a triptych of three exotic locales as experienced through movies, TV and the internet (it's still an experience even if you never went there, isn't it?): "Fiesta Mexicana", "Arabian Nights" and "Great Fireworks in China" are the three movements of this half-hour long symphony and the film-score like music is joined by ethno-pop music from the three countries in a bubbling brew that approaches the overheated Italian film scores of the past so beloved of Quentin Tarantino. The 19-minute triple trombone concerto is based on the Batman mythology; the soloists represent The Joker, Two-Face and The Penguin on alto, tenor and bass trombones, respectively, with their motifs laid out individually, swirled around together and generally splattered all over the place until the slow, ominous, swooping "bat-music" of the orchestra defeats them. Making up the rest of the jangly 70 minutes are two suites of music from recent Marthinsen operas, no less vividly representative and colorfully orchestrated. Some of this is like Michael Daugherty on crystal meth! Håkan Björkman, Stefan Schulz, Jörgen van Rijen (trombones), Aarhus Symphony Orchestra; Christian Lindberg.