WEYSE: Late Piano Works

Includes work(s) by Hans Christian Lumbye. Ensemble: Tivoli Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: David Riddell.

Norgard, P.: Seadrift / Nova Genitura / Fons Laetitiae

Drama, surprise, humour and still life - with a bubbling undertone of anarchy. Composer Ib Nørholm (b. 1931) presents us with a delightful twist on Danish nocturne and condensed music drama for two in Tavole per Orfeo. This world premiere recording by soprano Else Torp and guitarist Per Pålsson unfolds as a fascinating testimony to an inspired encounter between words and music and a meeting of strong artistic personalities. Else is a core member of Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices, with whom she has performed around the world.

NIELSEN: Chamber Music, Vol. 1

HARTMANN: Overtures

NIELSEN: Chamber Music, Vol. 2 - Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2

The medieval concept of Venus’ Wheel is the symbolic framework for this collection of choral works by renowned Danish composer and composer Bo Holten (b. 1948). Holten leads the Flemish Radio Choir on a passionate journey through the many facets of love, using the whole of musical history as a framework and sounding board for his own contemporary idiom.

RUDERS: Kafka's Trial (Proces Kafka, Prozess Kafka)

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.

NORGARD: Lygtemaendene tager til byen / SORENSEN: Den lille

The first-rate Danish vocal ensemble Ars Nova offers one of the most sonorous, sensitively balanced, and interpretively satisfying renditions of John Taverner's Western Wind Mass to appear on disc, taking its place alongside the reference Tallis Scholars performance on Gimell. However, unlike other versions, this one supplies the Mass with a Kyrie, a richly beautiful setting by the same composer, graced with a captivating melody and affecting, robust polyphonic textures, titled Kyrie Le Roy (the King). There's a sense of drama in these performances that goes beyond the purely liturgical--but this is a recording, and the powerful ending of the Gloria, for instance, is not only in keeping with the sense of the text, but also brings Taverner's vibrant, colorful harmonies to full flower.

As usual, conductor Paul Hillier spices his program with several obscure or unknown gems: the "anonymous" Ah, my dear son; William Cornysh's Woefully arrayed, a gruesome, emotionally intense utterance of Christ on the cross; and Sheryngham's Ah, gentle Jesu, a fascinating dialogue between a "sinner" and Jesus. And the fourth verse of John Browne's Jesu, mercy--another impassioned, distraught contemplation of the cross ("Jesu, mercy, how may this be?")--is one of the more brutal and profoundly moving examples of English Renaissance sacred choral music you'll ever hear. The closing In pace by Christopher Tye is an unqualified masterpiece that deserves repeated, careful listening.

This choir has everything right, including the vocal sound--open, free, unobstructed, with an utterly natural clarity and brightness that seems a common characteristic of Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian singers--and ensemble intelligence and maturity. The recorded sound can be somewhat gritty in the loudest moments, but it's not really an issue in the context of such excellent performances and outstanding music.

– David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

RASMUSSEN, S.: String Quartets Nos. 1-2 / Violin Concerto No

Koppel: Works for Cello & Piano

Schutz, H.: Die Geburt Unsers Herren Jesu Christi / Die Aufe