With the establishment of Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens in 1843, the Danish composer and conductor Hans Christian Lumbye (1810–1874) swiftly rose to fame as the city’s internationally acclaimed king of waltzes and galops, leading his orchestra from the violin. For this recording, Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Concerto Copenhagen – Scandinavia’s leading period instruments ensemble – studied Lumbye’s original scores and used instruments from the era to recreate an authentic sound. This collection showcases Lumbye’s enchanting music, along with popular pieces by Bellman, Lanner and Strauss I.

On the eight solo improvisations that make up Dark Radiance, percussionist, performance artist and composer Ying-Hsueh Chen takes listeners on a journey through subtle musical movements that meticulously weave the past into the present in a remarkable manner. Nearly every piece is devoted to a single instrument, and each, for the most part, emerges from a single musical gesture or action, creating sounds from the thunderous to the delicate without overpowering or losing them.

There is an evaporating quality to the music of Icelandic composer and conductor Daníel Bjarnason, with sounds that can start softly or loudly, serenely or fiercely, but ultimately dissipate into intangible air. This album, conducted by the composer himself, showcases this characteristic in three captivating works in all-new versions. In Bow to String, the three movements undergo a mesmerizing transformation from a pounding passacaglia to an exhale of frozen breath. In Over Light Earth, the sounds tremble before dispersing to the far edges of the orchestra. And in the Larkin Songs, Bjarnason reflects on fleeting companionship and love.

Beginning with the intimate, hushed textures of the solo piano cycle '12 Nocturnes' (2000-14), a night music that drifts from sundown to sunrise, and unfolding into the Piano Concerto No. 3, 'La sera estatica' (2021) - an ecstatic evening touched by the fleeting magic of twilight, where new encounters and possibilities quietly awaken, captured live at it's world premiere by the Copenhagen Phil under John Storg�rds - this album immerses the listener in Bent Sorensen's (b. 1958) profound love of the piano and extraordinary poetic imagination.

This album provides a peek into Paul von Klenau's vast collection of music created during World War II where he produced works, almost obsessively, until his passing in 1946. The album includes world premiere recordings of Klenau's Violin Concerto, Piano Concerto, and Symphony No. 8, showcasing his mastery of both tonal and atonal sonorities, his distinctive introspective style, and his exceptional talent for venturing into uncharted musical realms.

Victor Bendix (1851-1926) was a complex figure in Danish music, central but at the same time an outsider. Despite being a highly respected composer, pianist and conductor, he never quite received the recognition he dreamt of. Two of his key works are his Symphonies 1 & 3: they stand as high points in his life, as well as constituting a poignant narrative of his artistic fate. Symphony No. 1, Ascension is his hopeful, ambitious debut, while the melancholic Symphony No. 3 is marked by resignation and fatalism.

Echoes showcases Lars Moller's masterful fusion of Scandinavian introspection, robust American jazz, and emotive Indian modalities. Joined by legendary trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and the NDR Bigband, Moller crafts a sonic journey that reflects his artistic evolution and exploration of jazz and Indian music. Contrasting spacious, improvised passages with dense orchestrations, Echoes balances air and fire, creating a timeless soundscape that embraces both spiritual openness and rhythmic intensity.

The Icelandic composer Hugi Guðmundsson has penned a new oratorio infused with religious themes, featuring an ensemble of orchestra, choir, and soloists. The Gospel of Mary draws inspiration from a long-forgotten gospel written in the early centuries after Christ's birth, which challenges the established narrative surrounding the role of Mary Magdalene in Christianity. This deeply moving oratorio dares to challenge established norms by portraying Mary Magdalene as an apostle on par with her male counterparts.

Line Tjørnhøj's enTmenschT was created before the pandemic hit us, and before the event that we didn't think would happen in our time: war in Europe. It captures two of art history's most extreme and expressive artistic personalities from the beginning of the 20th century, perhaps precisely where our modern fear was founded: the fear of destructive inhumanity. The human voice is the focus of Tjornhoj's music. As in several of her other works, universal and often painful aspects of our existence are explored through virtuoso investigations of the voice - its possibilities and limitations and the connectedness of voices. The work was created in collaboration with visual artist Signe Klejs and the virtuosic vocal ensemble Theatre of Voices.

With 'the scream as a leitmotif', enTmenschT explores the boundary between humanity and inhumanity. enTmenschT is a touching and shocking musical work whose themes and expression are terribly relevant.

Between 1851 and 1857, Peter Heise wrote six string quartets for the intimate musical soirées of Copenhagen’s refined middle class. Heise was a celebrated and cherished composer in his native Denmark, but his quartets sadly fell into obscurity and were stored away. The Nordic String Quartet is reviving these works with this first volume of their complete collection, featuring Quartets Nos. 1–3.

An ArkivMusic Exclusive in North America! This special edition book with inserted CD presents Dacapo Records’ complete EMP Series with the electronic music of Else Marie Pade. The series offers a fresh perspective on Pade’s music, featuring previously unavailable works, including reel-to-reel tapes, compositions from her tenure at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation and new digitised versions of pioneering works. The book includes a large collection of texts about her electronic works, with QR codes to the corresponding digital albums in Dacapo Records’ EMP Series and a CD with five selected electronic works.