Classical Music

Classical Music

The poems by Gustaf Fr�ding are well known to Swedish poetry and music lovers and many of them have been set to music before. Fr�ding belonged to the same generation of authors "the 1890's" that also included Nobel Prize winners Selma Lagerl�f, Verner von Heidenstam and Erik Axel Karlfeldt. Fr�ding was and is probably the most popular of them all. These fifteen Fr�ding songs cover a wide spectrum of emotions, from folksy humoristic rural stories via satirical portraits, good-natured but biting to deeply philosophical and serious personal and universal analyses. Matti Borg varies the expressivity of the music depending on the content of the texts. The very first song, for instance, Jonte Och Brunte, describes graphically the old farm-hand and the aged horse on their way home from the field at the end of the day.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Born in Copenhagen, Erling Blöndal Bengtsson gave his first public performance there in 1936, when he was four years old. He was admitted at the age of sixteen to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied with Gregor Piatigorsky, who engaged him as a teaching assistant in 1949. From 1950 to 1953, Bengtsson taught his own cello class at the Institute, before being appointed to the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. In 1980, he became a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Köln. He returned to America in 1990 and taught at the University of Michigan School of Music until his retirement from academia in 2006. Now, the Danish cellist’s solo 78rpm recordings have been remastered and gathered on this new release.

The four 'Miniatures' by Swiss composer Paul Juon clearly reveal his Russian childhood. It is melodious music- a variety of character that clearly refer to Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky. Nonetheless, Juon's inimitable style is immediately audible. Max Bruch was seventy-two when he composed 'Eight Pieces' for his son, Max Felix. It is substantial multifaceted oeuvre, intensifying progressively from calm awakening to complex exuberance. The 'Eight Pieces' are illuminated by Bruch's lyricism and are completely uninfluenced by his contemporaries such as Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Bartok. It is intense and profound music- intimate interaction and expression are balanced by passion, Sturm und Drang, and quiet delicacy. Truly, how a real late-romanticist composed one whole century ago. Friedrich Wilhelm Voight's 'Nocturne' contrasts sharply with the numerous marches he composed as highly-ranked military musician. 'Nocturne' is a charming piece, containing elements of both salon music and the operatic stage; it even features a brief recitative. Throughout the movement the voices intertwine in an intimate dialogue, altering between simple melodies and pompous drama.

Classical Music

Louis Glass was a contemporary of Carl Nielsen, however his musical ideals were of the late-Romantic idiom. Like Nielsen he composed six symphonies, but as a composer he was a dreamer and his lush, brilliantly orchestrated works hark back to a time when modernism had no influence. This is the first complete recording of the six symphonies which were played frequently in Denmark, but vanished into the mist of a forgotten world. The splendid Bulgarian orchestra easily identifies with Glass’ musical sound world, stretching back and absorbing the style of the early Richard Strauss. These symphonies were recorded between October 1999 and August 2000, and feature the Plodiv Philharmonic led by renowned conductor Nayden Todorov.

This new album is yet another sensational piano release from the North German Husum Festival of Rarities featuring some of the leading pianists of today performing many rare works for solo piano. Founded in 1987, the annual Rarities of Piano Music Festival in the North German town of Husum is a major event. Danacord is proud to release the recording from the 2015 Festival. Lovers of all Romantic piano music will appreciate this live recording featuring Jonathan Plowright, Jonathan Powell, Yuri Favorin, Martin Jones, and more. As an additional note- Danacord releases live recordings of this festival each year, and all previous recordings are available as well.

Classical Music

Victor Schioler was undoubtedly the greatest Danish pianist ever. His fame was legendary and he made some of the most impressive recordings for the Danish HMV and TONO label together with giving concerts all over the world. His recorded legacy is among the most fascinating and we are proud to give you the 3rd volume in an ongoing series of his rarest and most sought after recordings. Victor Schi�ler was born in 1899 into a musical family, the son of Victor Bendix, a composer and conductor whose name is also to be found in the Danacord catalogue, and Augusta Schi�ler, a pianist. Apart from his mother his teachers included Ignaz Friedman and Arthur Schnabel and he made his debut in 1914. He pursued an energetic career as pianist, conductor and musical organizer, which was interrupted during the rise of Nazism and the German occupation of Denmark. He firmly resisted any collaboration with the Nazi powers and the hiatus allowed him to develop another interest, that of medicine, in which he graduated. In 1943 he fled to Sweden with his wife and resumed concert work. Concert tours dominated his life once more until, at a rather late age, he succeeded in having a son and cut back on his concert work in order to dedicate himself as much as possible to his family. He died in 1967

Classical Music