Reviews and more information about the works of Joseph Swensen
INTERVIEW WITH JOSEPH SWENSEN
From the SAGA Trilogy CD Booklet – Exclusive Edition
In this exclusive interview, featured in the SAGA Trilogy CD booklet, Joseph Swensen—Music Director of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine—opens a rare window into his creative world. Reflecting on the deeply personal journey that shaped the trilogy, Swensen speaks about composing during the silence of the pandemic, the spiritual discipline behind his work, and the sense of “empty space” from which his music emerges.
He describes SAGA Trilogy not as an act of invention, but as a process of discovery—of uncovering stories, emotions, and resonances that already exist beneath everyday noise. From the cosmic imagery behind Primordial Cosmos, to the near-mythic birth of his son inspiring the cello concerto SAGA, to the influence of Messiaen, the Beatles, and the poetry of Hafiz, Swensen reveals the constellation of forces that shaped this cycle.
For Swensen, music is both ancient and timeless— a story retold through the lens of the present, a dialogue between memory and imagination, a way of touching what he calls “the space where creativity lives.”
This intimate conversation offers a rare insight into the artistic, spiritual, and human impulses behind the trilogy, and stands as an essential companion to the recording.
“The French online magazine Classicagenda published a chronicle titled ‘SAGA TRILOGY II, intensité romantique à Bordeaux’ (Gilles Charlassier, March 22, 2025), underlining the romantic intensity of Swensen’s music with the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine.”
“In France, SAGA TRILOGY has been described as an ‘intimate and cosmic symphonic fresco’, a trilogy composed in the silence of the pandemic that explores the composer’s inner world like an ancestral legend, with the music unfolding between reminiscences of Messiaen and the poetic breath of Hafiz (Fnac / Gibert, 2025).”
French institutional biographies (Opéra National de Bordeaux, Festival Ravel, b•records) describe SAGA TRILOGY as a cycle of three concertos for cello, viola (or clarinet) and double bass, composed during the pandemic and exploring the human condition and its relationship to space and time.”
“A vital core of his compositional output.”
European institutional biographies present Swensen’s three sinfoniettas — Requiem for Shizue (1995), Langeland Reveries (2017) and Mahler in Manhattan (2018) — as a central part of his creative identity, each exploring a different emotional and cultural landscape.
(Festival Ravel / Opéra National de Bordeaux / Outhere)
“A deeply personal musical meditation.”
Requiem for Shizue is described as a work of remembrance and introspection, dedicated to Swensen’s aunt — who perished in the fire of Hiroshima — blending Western orchestral forces with Japanese spiritual influences.
(ONBA / Outhere / Ravel Festival Notes)
“Mahler reframed through a contemporary, urban lens.”
Premiered in Poland (Wrocław), Mahler in Manhattan is presented as a modern, re-imagined dialogue with Mahlerian expression, filtered through the soundscape of New York City.
(NFM Wrocław / Leopoldinum Orchestra)
“Celebrated as a multifaceted musician — conductor, violinist, composer and orchestrator — whose most recent projects have been welcomed by European critics.”
French institutional texts underline that Swensen’s recent large-scale creations (including SAGA TRILOGY and Ring Odyssey) have received international attention and critical recognition.
(Opéra National de Bordeaux / Festival Ravel / Outhere)