Violin Recital: Schneider, Elisabeth Zeuthen / Staerk, Ulric

This CD is a testimony of the extraordinary meeting between two strong artistic personalities. Danish mezzo-soprano Helene Gjerris explores six decades of vocal music by Per Nørgård (b. 1932) in new instrumentations; music which reaches the darkest corners of the human mind, loaded with intense poetry by Allen Ginsberg, Arthur Rimbaud and Pär Lagerkvist.

KOPPEL, A.: Saxophone Concertos

Ribe Cathedral, in the Southwest of Denmark, is one of the few places in the world where the earliest Lutheran church music practice can be reconstructed. Thanks to the Danish hymn collector Hans Thomissøn (1532-73), music director at Ribe Cathedral School around 1560, a clearly shaped liturgy was equipped with the relevant music. In exemplary manner this recording reflects the elements that made up an early Lutheran feast-day service in Denmark, including a fashionable Mass cycle by the Flemish master Jacobus Clemens non Papa. This release is just in time for the 500th anniversary of Europe’s Reformation. Musica Ficta, established in 1996, specializes in early music, particularly medieval and renaissance music.

OLESEN: Tonkraftwerk

These Goldberg Variations present new perspectives on a well-known score. Danish composer Peter Navarro-Alonso's composition is a note-by-note reinvention of the original Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach. Thus Alpha's innovative performance adds no additional notes in comparison to the original. It is merely through the very creative and extreme orchestration that the new composition gains it's own life. "The combination of recorder, saxophone and percussion is clearly not very well suited to a baroque-style reorchestration," claims Peter Navarro-Alonso, responsible for this arrangement tailor made for the members of Alpha. "But the richness in that combination lies in it's enormous diversity in timbre and dynamics." Alpha is a unique Danish ensemble, founded by Bolette Roed, Peter Navarro-Alonso, and David Hildebrandt, who all graduated from the soloist class at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen. As early as 2003, they were the first to explore this instrument combination, attracted by it's many possibilities. Alpha was an immediate success, and have been prize-winners at contests and festivals all over Europe.

NORGARD: Works for Harp and Ensemble

A computer is connected to a massive pipe organ and robot musicians take control for the next 60 minutes – without human intervention. California-born composer Wayne Siegel (b. 1953) is a pioneer of computer-based music. In his work Celebration, the four manuals of the Hallgrímskirkja pipe organ in Reykjavík are controlled by four virtual musicians, all of them eager to express themselves individually but also programmed to perform together. Icelandic hymns and live-data from a weather satellite are interpreted by the virtual musicians playing the pipe organ, embedding human culture and the climate of our planet in everything they say. Wayne Siegel is a composer, professor of electronic music and director of DIEM (the Danish Institute for Electronic Music) in Aarhus. Siegel was born in Los Angeles and came to Denmark in 1974 to study composition with Per Norgard. Since then Siegel has lived in Denmark, where from the beginning of the 1980s he has pioneered the development of electronic music and computer-based composition.

KOPPEL / RASMUSSEN / BENTZON / OLSEN / LORENTZEN: Piano Trio

" This CD presents five world premiere recordings of acoustic and electronic works by the Danish composer Rune Glerup (b. 1981). Instead of offering a narrative flow of music, Glerup uniquely allows the listener to move around among independent three-dimensional blocks of sound with powerful energy fields between them."

The idea of building great music from modest or fragmentary means has characterized the work of Nordic composers for generations. In Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen’s music, that idea finds a particularly exquisite and absolutely contemporary expression. In Toccata the music glances towards a filmic chase-down, whereas Nielsen in Ophelia Dances claims to ‘hear the dancing’ of that fragile character from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The album concludes with Nielsen’s single-movement symphony, Symphony No. 3, which sets in motion a cumulative journey upwards from low to high: a symphonic Tower of Babel, reaching for the heavens. All of the works on this release are world premiere recordings, and the album is being released to mark Svend Hvidfelt Nielsen’s 60th birthday. Nielsen is also a gifted church organist, and on this album he plays the organ solo part in the Toccata.

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REVIEW:

The Ophelia Dances is certainly strange and interesting music, more “ambient” in sound but still well structured beneath its odd sonorities. Though apparently a continuous work, it is clearly composed in discrete movements, placing the accordion in the midst of bitonal swirls of sound and pungent brass and string interjections.

The Symphony No. 3, written in 2010, uses a sort of musical “big bang” at the outset, followed by “stuttering fragments” which “muster to initiate the development of the symphony’s vertical structure, supported by foundations in the form of tectonic pedal notes.” This is indeed a technical description of what happens, but the listening process is more emotional and therefore more fascinating.

A strange sort of album, then, yet fascinating and certainly worth a listen!

– Arts Music Lounge

BRODSGAARD: in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni (we enter

The research on the musical cultures of faraway countries left it's mark on Poul Rovsing Olsen's (1922-82) oeuvre. He aimed at clarity and substance, and by fusing elements from the Occidental and Oriental traditions he developed a personal musical idiom that was unusual in Danish music. Poul Rovsing Olsen himself said that it was his dream "to make music as direct as possible, to bring it closer to the listener". This album features his last composition 'A Dream in Violet' and four world premiere recordings of his music for voice and instruments, including 'The Planets,' based on a block book from the 15th century. Poul Rovsing Olsen was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and subsequently in Paris where he studied under the highly regarded teacher Nadia Boulanger and the renowned composer Olivier Messiaen. Alongside his studies of classical music, Rovsing Olsen cultivated his passion for Oriental music and a great part of his life he dedicated to his professional work on ethnomusicology. His work in the music of distant countries also left it's mark on Rovsing Olsen's own music.

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

Koppel, A.: Concerto for Violin and Accordion / Concerto for

Making important decisions can be complicated. It can also be perfectly simple. Most of the time, though, it seems like it is both. Echoing such intertwined feelings of doubt and clarity, Niels Ronsholdt (b. 1978) presents a unique song cycle full of mirrors, sensitivity and undaunted experimentation. The music included on this release transcends the boundaries between classical and pop music. The work stood out at both November Music Festival 2015 (Holland) and SPOR Festival 2016 (Denmark), receiving the biggest audience applause at both festivals. Niels Ronsholdt teaches composition alongside fellow composer Simon Steen-Andersen at the Danish Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, the former home of composers such as Per Norgard and Bent Sorensen. Of Ronsholdt’s previous release, Nordische Musik gave five stars and wrote: “Me Quitte is anything but difficult avant-garde music: it is emotional, fragile, moving, dreamlike, and yes, even charming.”

FROUNBERG / HORSVING / TEGLBJAERG / OLSEN / RASMUSSEN: Works

What amazed me the most about these works, particularly the last two, which are pretty good and original music, is the fact that in each case Nielsen was forced to work on a short deadline, barely more than two or three weeks.



NIELSEN-BANGERT Cantata for the Opening Ceremony of the National Exhibition in Aarhus NIELSEN Music for Hans Hartvig Seedorf Pedersen’s Homage to Holberg. Helge Rode’s Prologue to Shakespeare: Ariel’s Song. 1 Cantata for the Annual University Commemoration • Bo Holten, cond; Ditte Højgaard Andersen (sop); Mathias Hedergaard (ten); 1 Palle Knudsen (bar); Jens Albinus (nar); Aarhus Cathedral Ch; Danish Natl Op Ch; Aarhus SO • DACAPO 8.226079 (65:52 Text and Translation)


Cantatas by Carl Nielsen? Yes! Surprised? So was I, and I’m sure you’ll be too. One reason they aren’t known is that they were composed for specific celebratory functions whose initial presentation was interrupted by speeches, cheering, polka bands, more speeches, and lots of drinking. Not exactly an atmosphere conducive to great art. Add to that the fact that Nielsen didn’t want to compose some of them, had to work with an over-verbose librettist in one (and assigned half the composition duties to one of his pupils, Emilius Bangert), and carried on a running argument with the committee that commissioned it over the libretto of another, and you can well imagine that these aren’t among the composer’s best works.


Of course, this doesn’t mean that they’re bad pageant music—certainly not as bad as Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory, which the composer practically laughed at until it turned out to be a really popular money-maker—but the music is only occasionally interesting because the texts are only occasionally interesting. In the first cantata, the Nielsen-Bangert collaboration written in 1909, the most interesting piece by far is No. 4, the one that the two composers split pretty much down the middle (Nielsen wrote the first 117 bars, Bangert the rest). Bangert’s other contributions, Nos. 2, 3, and 7, are by no means “bad” music—the older composer supervised his pupil’s compositions and possibly made suggestions—but they lack character and originality. It’s the age-old battle between craft and art.


The second cantata on this album is in fact the last one composed, in 1923. This is mature Nielsen, and since he had a strong affinity for Holberg anyway, having set his text for the opera Maskerade to music almost 20 years earlier, his heart was really in it. The beginning is not promising—it starts with a pompous brass fanfare in the same vein, and even the same key, that ended the last piece of the previous cantata—but it soon develops into interesting music. Nielsen himself said, “It is … a shame that this music is only for this particular occasion, but it is constructed in such a fashion that it can be performed repeatedly and in other circumstances [emphasis mine].” The first movement features a quartet of Muses; here, soprano Andersen is joined by soprano Eline Denice Risager and mezzos Birgitte Mosegaard Pedersen and Bolette Bruno Hansen. The second soprano and mezzo are not terribly good, but they get by. The second movement features a baritone solo; the third is purely choral.


This is followed by one excerpt, a tenor solo, from a cantata celebrating the tercentennial of Shakespeare’s death (1916). It is so isolated because it was published and performed separately after the event, primarily by Danish tenor Anders Brems. It’s a very nice piece that, unfortunately, is sung by Hedergaard with unsteady tone.


The Cantata for the Annual University Commemoration , written in 1908, is the only one of Nielsen’s cantatas written for a recurring occasion. It is one of the most thoughtfully composed, and most cantata-like in alternating sung recitatives accompanied by piano with full choral-orchestral passages. Again, ignoring the text, this is music that could be performed to other texts for other occasions. There is an unusual touch of harmonic darkness to the music of the second number, where Nielsen also cleverly integrated the piano used in the recitative into the orchestral fabric; during the second recitative, the piano’s role expands into almost song-cycle-like accompaniment. This is a truly inspired bit of writing. Toward the end of the movement, the piano’s role changes again, accompanying four horns in concerto fashion before the chorus returns, then remaining as a prominent instrument along with the full strings. A slow tempo, muted violins, and ostinato bass create a mysterious mood in No. 3.


What amazed me the most about these works, particularly the last two, which are pretty good and original music, is the fact that in each case Nielsen was forced to work on a short deadline, barely more than two or three weeks. His lack of interest in the Aarhus cantata undoubtedly led to his creating the shallowest music. As to the performances, they are absolutely first-rate except for the aforementioned unsteadiness of tenor Hedergaard and two of the lady Muses. Andersen has a very light-toned, pretty Bach-Mozart-type soprano voice. Although baritone Knudsen also shows some signs of unsteadiness, he is generally very good. Diction is crystal-clear. Both the Aarhus Choir and Orchestra and the Danish National Opera Chorus are rock-solid, transparent in texture, and firmly committed to giving the best performances they can. Conductor Holten walks a fine line between creating excitement commensurate to the occasions in question and delivering excellent, well-contoured performances, and he succeeds handsomely in this task. And, happily, the sonics are crystal-clear, no muddiness of sound. If you can ignore the bombast of the first cantata, then, this is a worthy addition to your Nielsen collection.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

HOLMBOE Eco. Aspects. Sonata for Cello Solo. Quartetto Medico. Sextet • Ens MidtVest • DACAPO 8.226074 (70:28)


The music of Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996), in addition to these chamber works (of which this is Vol. 2), extends to more than 370 pieces including 13 symphonies. His music is generally described as neoclassical but operating within the parameters of an organic form of development. Holmboe described this as a process of gradual but evident change in the music “interrelated with many things that slowly seep in through a life lived with nature.” Thus his music tends to be quite serious, despite occasional moments of jocularity, but never off-putting. His earlier style was based on the music of his mentor, Carl Nielsen, then developed through years spent in the Balkans studying the folk music there.


These five works come from the latter stages of his career, the earliest of them being the Quartetto Medico of 1956. This piece was written for friends of his who were amateur musicians and professional doctors, which explains its lack of difficulty as well as the humorous titles of the movements (such as Andante medicamento, Allegro quasi febrile and the two “Intermedicos”). The wind quintet Aspects dates from 1957, but the other works are all later: the Solo Cello Sonata from 1968-69, the Sextet from 1973, and Eco from 1991.


The liner notes claim that there is a “Zen-like balance between intellect and nature” in his music, and I would concur. Oddly enough, however, I found that his slow movements were much more emotionally affecting to me than his fast ones. Either the Ensemble MidtVest doesn’t play these with enough good-humored brio, or it just isn’t in there to be brought out, but in either case I find his Allegro s to be peppy but lacking the boisterous good humor of Nielsen’s.


Of course, in the case of the solo cello sonata—played with tremendous feeling and elegance by Jonathan Slaatto—this is serious music indeed, thus the fast passages in the first movement are more in the nature of exposition and spinning out of the theme rather than an attempt at humor. Indeed, I found this to be the most interesting, and certainly the deepest, work on this disc, alternating its moods quickly but always logically. The primary key of the sonata is G Minor, but true to his proclivity for using Balkan folk music, Holmboe works primarily in modes and not in Western keys. Either Slaatto has a somewhat light and airy tone or the microphone placement makes it sound thus, but in either case I felt that the overly reverberant soundspace did not flatter the instrument in this work. That being said, there is little or nothing one can quibble of in either the work’s construction (I wonder if Holmboe was ever more mercurial in his change of moods than he is here) or its emotional impact.


Despite the overall lightness of tone (and texture) in the Quartetto Medico, this music is not really very jocular either. Rather, it floats like a cloud within the universe of Holmboe’s mind, to some extent like Debussy’s early chamber music. This is particularly true of the second “Intermedico,” marked Poco largamente , which is played by the solo pianist in a dreamy style and manner, while the finale ( Allegro con frangula ) starts with piano but is soon joined by the winds. The tempo is more of an Allegretto , not terribly fast, though the music soon doubles in speed as it swirls to a conclusion.


Holmboe’s Sextet begins with the solo cello, which is a bit deceiving, as well as in a slowish tempo that soon picks up. Again, the music is slightly jocular but not really humorous, yet as in the case of all his music it makes a good impression. The Andante cantabile second movement seems to suspend time and place as the music simply hangs above one’s ears while listening, while the final Allegro molto coalesces musical moods into a typically quirky finale.


If this disc is your introduction to Holmboe’s musical world, as it was for me, I think you’ll be intrigued and charmed by it. If you haven’t gotten around to Holmboe’s chamber works but like his other music, this one is a must.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Includes work(s) by various composers. Soloists: Vicki Boeckman, Genie Johnsson, Pia Brinch Jensen, Karina Agerbo.

Bent S�rensen's music can feel like the product of a dream, at once vague and precise, present and intangible. With Rosenblad and Pantomime, the recording of S�rensen's trilogy Papillons is complete. This is music filled with the ebb and flow of fear, hope and nostalgia and unified by common musical material through the same anchoring piano part across it's movements. All works including the Fantasia Appassionata for solo piano are written for Katrine Gislinge, S�rensen's wife and one of the most significant pianists in Scandinavia, here accompanied by Esbjerg Ensemble and the Stenhammar Quartet. All of the pieces on this release are premiere recordings, and are being released at the same time that S�rensen will receive the prestigious Grawemeyer Award.

The viola occupies a special place in the psyche of musicians and composers. It is an instrument of mystery, soulfulness and even of protest and revolt. Rafaell Altino, principal viola of the Odense Symphony Orchestra, presents this exploration of his instrument's power and possibilities as realized by six leading Danish composers. Some explore the viola as a tool for sound production while others relish what it's distinctive also singing voice does to melodies. The results are as touching and warm as they are fearsome and defiant. All works on this release are commissioned by and dedicated to Altino by Danish composers, including Grawemeyer Award winner Bent Sorensen. Liner notes have been provided by Andrew Mellor, journalist and critic with a particular interest in the culture and music of Denmark and the Nordic countries.

Trio Ismena guides us through a fascinating collection including world premiere recordings of contemporary works showcasing the diversity of the vanguard of Danish contemporary composers.

If you don’t know Danish composer Ole Buck, you’ve been missing something special. His music is approachable, imaginative, often nature-inspired, and crafted with remarkable precision. Each of these pieces is written for a different number of instruments or players (the notes unfortunately don’t tell us which ones), and each of them matters. Buck is a master of musical timing (the notes do say that, and it’s the truth). In Fiori di ghiaccio (Ice Flowers), for example, just when you think all nine players have made a contribution, in comes a trumpet injecting a new flash of color (and melody).

A Tree, for thirteen musicians, predictably features some wooden percussion, but nothing else about the piece follows conventional paths. The title is the only naive thing about it. [Untitled], for eight instruments, is the most austere work here, and also the shortest, but it’s also incredibly imaginative. It’s a sort of “Pictures at an Exhibition” dedicated to paintings that are, as you might have guessed, untitled. Use your imagination. Flower Ornament Music, for seventeen instruments, is a major statement. There are, perhaps, Asian overtones in the central section, with its crashing tam-tam, and the ebullient closing minutes have minimalist overtones, but there’s nothing really like it in the modern repertoire.

The performances sound totally at home with the idiom; the players clearly relish their solo opportunities, and conductor Jesper Nordin has a good feel for the music’s carefully gauged pacing. Great sound, and just a great disc.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz)

It is magic through transparency. The music of Hans Abrahamsen, dark yet alluringly innocent, exhibits a pure, strong naivete that opens up into a genuine magical world of both the bright and the sombre kind. Performing two of his early works - Six Pieces for horn trio and his first string quartet 10 Preludes - Ensemble MidtVest brings out Abrahamsen's characteristic clear, precise tone. The same clarity inhabits his arrangements of Erik Satie's Trois Gymnopedies and Carl Nielsen's Fantasy Pieces, exploring and evoking the original works in a new, unmistakably Abrahamsenesque way.