Programme notes:

Rotor II for trombone and percussion does not belong to any well-defined family of works. Rather, the title describes a more general compositional thought which Nilsson has developed in some works. It is the starting impulse and introductory section of the work which supply the title: hastily 'rotating' motions, swoops which are clipped by irregular periods. Like a somewhat broken machine, or gears which generally fit, but sometimes hitch for a fraction of a second. Little by little, the music slows down and the parts become more 'moth-eaten,' as Nilsson himself puts it. Each return of the theme appears in a slower tempo, and even the notes get lower, until the music comes to a chorale-like end. Rotor II was premiered on Swedish Television in 2000 by Ivo Nilsson and Jonny Axelsson. Tony Lundman (from PSCD 132) Translation: George Kentros