Eichberg is the first composer in residence in the history of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. This CD presents the premiere recordings of his Symphony No. 1 and Symphony No. 2 that was first performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and concludes an explosive phase of creativity in the young composer.

• Traditional Nordic folk music with Middle Ages roots meet three new compositions by Danish trio Gáman. • Drum songs from Greenland, chain-dances from the Faroe Islands, wedding music from Fanø island and brand new sounds enrichingly elucidate one another. • Gáman (the name refers to the old Norse word for “joy”), are three of Denmark’s most celebrated young classical musicians exploring their common musical passions. Gáman had their US debut at the Other Minds Festival, San Francisco in 2013.

In the gloomy sky of a winter’s night a bright star emerges and ignites Advent’s anticipation of the Nativity –the year moves towards the rebirth of light just at the time of greatest darkness. With evocative works by the Baroque master Dietrich Buxtehude and the circle of 17th-century northern German composers around him, Paul Hillier conducts his Grammy award-winning ensemble Theatre of Voices in a stimulating addition to the traditional Christmas repertoire. Theatre of Voices, widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost vocal groups, was founded by Paul Hillier in 1990 and re-established in Denmark when he moved to that country in 2004. The group presents a wide range of contemporary music, often juxtaposed with elements of early music. Their programs feature many of today’s most eminent composers - Berio, Pärt, Reich, Cage, Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Stockhausen - while among their current favourite ‘early’ composers are Perotin, Dowland, and Buxtehude.

-----

REVIEW:

This latest exploration of Buxtehude and his circle from Paul Hillier and the Theatre of Voices is a joyful, festive program divided into four sections, with each one containing a work by Buxtehude, at least one substantial motet by a related composer and an organ solo. It was recorded in the warm acoustic of Garnisonskirken, Copenhagen.

The last motet, Ab Oriente venerunt Magi by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) is Theatre of Voices at their level best: tender, blended, and deliciously phrased. If you are looking for the Christmas disc of 2017, here it is.

– Gramophone

The 500 years that separate Renaissance master Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410-97) and Danish composer Bent Sørensen (b. 1958) seem to disappear in this extraordinary Requiem which is a totality integrated both dramatically and musically; a work that unites the stylistic contrasts in a mode of expression that seems at once timeless and entirely present. The project has been initiated by conductor Paul Hillier and interpreted by his GRAMMY-winning ensemble Ars Nova Copenhagen.

R E V I E W:

Shoots straight into the soul and lingers long in the mind.

This is a fascinating and highly successful project. Without going into the kind of detail which the booklet notes give us, this is Johannes Ockeghem´s Missa pro defunctis, integrated with newly composed movements by Bengt Sørensen to create what is, if not an entirely new piece, certainly a very new and fresh way of connecting the new in the old, with the old in the new. This is an extension of Paul Hillier’s more frequent combining of contemporary with early music in his programming, and here he has brought in Bengt Sørensen to complete ‘the bits which are missing’ in Ockeghem’s work.
 
Ockeghem’s Missa is full of moments which can wrong-foot you into thinking that you are hearing something contemporary. Harmonic shifts and quasi-romantic melodic lines abound, and just listen to some of those startling female-only passages in the Kyrie. The Graduale flows from Sørensen’s Lacrimosa as if from the same fearlessly expressive source, and there are moments in the Offertorium which are truly overwhelming.
 
Sørensen’s contributions are idiomatically sensitive and integrate by way of atmosphere, but are by no means a soft-pedalled imitation of ancient style. The opening Responsorium has plenty of reassuring parallel intervals and open harmonies, but immediately alerts the ear to what is to come, with close harmonies and strange dissonances which have inner resolution, but no ultimate cadence. The central Recordare Jesu pie in the Sequentia is one of those impossibly melting creations which make your hairs stand up with some kind of prehensile spiritual angst. Separated by plainchant, the first two minutes of the following Lacrimosa is truly beautiful: a moment of suspended time where the tears fall, but never reach the ground. There are moments of restrained drama here and in the Benedictus, where vibrato is used as a textural effect, making the air itself ring like a Tibetan bowl. The entire Requiem cycle closes with Sørensen’s In Paradisum, is the most extensive and in some ways the most far reaching, as the booklet notes describe, “with cluster-like chordal effects that are thinned out, recondensed and break like waves against each other.”
 
All of the texts are printed in the booklet in Latin, English and Danish, revealing a contribution from Dylan Thomas in the Responsorium: Memento mei Deus: “Hourly I sigh,/for all things are leaf-like/and cloud-like. Flowerly I die/for all things are grief-like/and shroud-like.” There is a diagram at the back of the booklet which shows the position of singers and microphones, with a more conventional choir setting for the Ockeghem, and singers all around the venue for Sørensen’s work. In stereo this effect is not so very noticeable, though there are enough added dimensions and everything remains perfectly balanced. With a surround set-up the effect is quite magical. I searched high and low for the name of the church where this was recorded, but even un-named this is a perfect acoustic for such unaccompanied vocal scoring. This is one of those recordings for which you close your eyes and give yourself entirely over to a very rich musical experience indeed. Paul Hillier’s Ars Nova Copenhagen is a remarkable collection of vocalists for which this work is tailor-made, and the music is brought to life in a way which shoots straight into the soul and lingers long in the mind.
 
-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International

Axel Borup- Jørgensen (1924-2012) was born in Denmark, but he grew up in Sweden where he was influenced by the incredible scenery and by the gloomy, introverted mood of Swedish poets and composers. The dark, unique tone of the viola fascinated Borup- Jørgensen, and throughout his composing career he utilized this instrument as an opulent resource for expression. The works on this album chronicle the development of Borup- Jørgensen as a composer. His Duo for Violin and Viola Op. 12 is lyrical and accessible, and contrasts Mobiles after Alexander Calder Op. 38 which displays more abstract tonalities. Finally, O Baume Lebens Op. 81 shows intense lyricism and extreme attention to detail.

Knudåge Riisager (1897-1974) holds a special place in Danish music, enriching it with an extra dimension of spirituality and pithiness. Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and conductor Andreas Delfs here present two key works in Riisager's catalogue, one of which clearly represented a turning point in his output, namely his orchestral reworking of a selection of Carl Czerny's piano etudes for his and Harald Lander's ballet Etudes. The other heralded a stylistic change and ranks as a highly personal contribution to the concerto genre - Riisager's Violin Concerto is played here by Danish violinist Ian van Rensburg. Van Rensburg has been first concert master of the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra since 1993. He also enjoys a versatile international career as an active soloist, chamber musician, and teacher.

“The five singers of Ars Nova Copenhagen blend beautifully in the deeply expressive Introitus and the fantastic quality of consort singing is no more notable than the touching communication of the text. Each singer performs their solo lines insightfully...this spellbinding performance is well worth acquiring.” - Gramophone Magazine, August 2010

This second volume of Kayser symphonies makes a more favorable impression than did its companion. The First Symphony, composed in 1937/38, is the precocious work of a 19-year old. Its three compact movement play for only a bit more than sixteen minutes, and the influence of Nielsen is obvious in the work's formal shapeliness, rhythmic vitality, and freshness. The Fourth Symphony by contrast, Kayser's last, is a large piece beginning with a pastoral prelude followed by an exciting scherzo, a very long Lento (20 minutes) and a finale nearly as big. It's a major work and far finer than the Second and Third Symphonies already released. The idiom is aggressively tonal, melodic, but shot through with diatonic dissonance. Occasionally, as the notes point out, Bartók or Hindemith may come to mind, but Kayser's harmony is far more traditional than either of those composers. That big Lento is very impressively sustained, rising to a very powerful, gut-wrenching climax about three-quarters of way through. The finale meanders a bit towards the middle, but recovers in plenty of time to bring about a very satisfying conclusion--brilliant but also somewhat emotionally ambivalent.

In sum, if you're interested in good post-Romantic music than you should hear this. The performances are quite satisfying: the orchestra sounds a touch more confident than on the previous outing--perhaps the quality of the music shows them in a better light, though I do wish they would invest in a decent-sounding pair of cymbals. The engineering is good, a touch dry, with a bit more ambient performance noise than otherwise would be ideal, but it doesn't get in the way of the music. Kayser spent nearly twenty years polishing his Fourth Symphony (1945-63); it really is a most distinctive piece, and I'm sure you'll agree that it was worth the effort.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

ROMANTIC TROMBONE CONCERTOS • Jesper Juul (tbn); Henrik Vagn Christensen, cond; Thomas Dausgaard, cond; 1 Danish Natl SO • dacapo 6.220526 (Hybrid multichannel SACD: 69:43)


HOLMBOE Concerto No. 12. HYLDGAARD Concerto Borealis. JØRGENSEN Romance. Suite for Trombone and Orchestra. GRØNDAHL Concerto (1924) 1


A bit oddly titled, the disc contains five original works for trombone and orchestra, not all of which are concertos, and only one or two of which, strictly speaking, are romantic; though I would qualify that by saying that music that once sounded determinedly modernistic to our ears seems less so with the passage of time. What these works do have in common is that all are by 20th-century Danish composers, all of whom, according to the note, were inspired by Nielsen’s scoring for trombones in his symphonies, and by a national musical culture that has promoted the trombone and produced some of its finest players.


Of the four composers represented here, Vagn Holmboe (1909–1996) is likely to be the most familiar from a large catalog of symphonic and concerted orchestral works. His 1950 Concerto for Trombone and Chamber Orchestra has been previously recorded by famed trombonist Christian Lindberg, and is available on two different BIS CDs, (same recording): one, an all-Holmboe program, contains concerted works for various solo instruments; the other, all works for trombone but by different composers. Take your pick. Overall, I find the current program more satisfying, and Juul’s tone smoother and more evenly balanced between registers. Holmboe’s concerto is a mostly buoyant, bouncy affair that has much in common with Honegger and Milhaud.


Søren Hyldgaard (b. 1962) and Axel Jørgensen (1881–1947) were both new to me, though Jørgensen’s Romance and Suite have also been recorded by Lindberg on separate CDs, neither of which I’ve heard. Ironically perhaps, it is Hyldgaard’s 2000 (revised 2005) Concerto Borealis , the most recently written work of the bunch that comes closest to fitting the “Romantic” label. Lyrical, yearning, mysterious, and extremely moving, it has about it the character of one of those quiet, contemplative, chorale-like, open-plains movements reminiscent of something by Aaron Copland. I’d spring for the disc just for this one piece—it’s that gorgeous. Jørgensen’s Romance and Suite are also very effective, but more conversational in tone; more than once I had the impression of listening to music that could serve as background to a light-hearted romantic film, which of course always has its episode or two of tears and wistful nostalgia.


If it was written for trombone, Christian Lindberg must have recorded it, as he has Launy Grøndahl’s (1886–1960) concerto as well. In this case, so has another trombonist, Branimir Slokar. Since I am not familiar with either of these recordings, however, I am unable to say whether either or both present the piece in its 1924 first version, as it is played here by Jesper Juul. This being the earliest composed piece on the disc, it is not surprising that its musical language, for its time, is fairly conservative, as is its form, a standard fast-slow-fast three-movement concerto. It does not rise, however, to the state of romantic bliss that Hyldgaard conjures in his concerto.


One doesn’t usually think of the trombone as a melodic soloist in concerted works; but if nothing else, this release proves that preconceived notions often fall before such persuasively contrary evidence as that offered by this CD. Strongly recommended, and not just to fans of the instrument.


FANFARE: Jerry Dubins


This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

These are string quartets of genuine quality, revealing a distinctive compositional voice, here in very fine performances and transparent recording.

Nancy Dalberg (1881-1949) completed three string quartets, and they hold a place of their own among her compositions. No. 1 in D minor was the very first instrumental work that she presented at a public concert (1915). No. 2 in G minor, op. 14 (1922), was the first work that was published and played outside Denmark, while No. 3, op. 20 (1927), which is dedicated to her teacher, Carl Nielsen, was not published during her lifetime. The present release of the three quartets features two world premiere recordings. Nancy Dalberg is considered one of the first female composers in Denmark, and she was the first woman in Denmark to compose a symphony. This release sheds new light on one of the world’s finest female composers, who due to her lifetime never got the acknowledgement she deserved.

-----

REVIEW:

This is a genuinely exciting release, and not only for the devotee of Scandinavian music. These are string quartets of genuine quality, revealing a distinctive compositional voice, here in very fine performances and transparent recording. The music is serious, often very muscular, both strong and rewarding, tonal and assured.

Nancy Dalberg is not well-represented on record, though there is an interesting compilation from 1999 (Da Capo 8224138) which contains orchestral pieces, including Capriccio for orchestra, Scherzo for String Orchestra ,eight selected songs, Fantasy Piece for Violin and Piano, and a performance of String Quartet No. 2 by the esteemed Carl Nielsen Quartet. Interestingly, the second quartet is something of a staple for Nordic and—especially—Danish quartets, yet the other two, no less worthy, are here receiving world premiere recordings. The earlier performance has many delights, is generally swifter than the new, yet the Nordic Quartet lose nothing in urgency while being served by superior sound. The new recording has the extra merit of being heard in the context of the other two, and my preference is for the new one.

Nancy Dalberg’s output was relatively small, consisting largely of songs and these quartets. Her orchestral works, mentioned above, also included a symphony—the first written by a Danish woman. Contemporaries commented that her symphony had nothing specifically feminine about it (why should it?). It would be good to have a modern recording—a cursory search revealed no sign of one.

The First Quartet was performed privately—among the players was Carl Nielsen, her friend and teacher. It follows the usual four movements with a cheery scherzo in second place. A strong sense of rhythm is evident in all three faster movements. The cello-led Adagio is both dark and intense, despite its brevity. Though written when Dalberg was still Nielsen’s pupil, this is no prentice work but a significant contribution to the medium.

The more familiar Second Quartet is very spirited, more instantly attractive, but the slow movement, Andante con moto e cantabile, again in third place, touches many depths in stern elegance.

The final quartet is in only three movements and is musically the most advanced and tightly constructed. There is no slow movement, but an intensity of feeling and some sense of sadness is evident throughout. Instruments often appear in high pitches (most notably the cello) and there is confident handling of the most complex polyphonic forms.

Recording quality is as fine as we might expect from this source, and my recommendation is unreserved.

– MusicWeb International (Michael Wilkinson)