Greatest ever Danish pianist in rare releases. With this eighth volume, Danacord's series The Great Danish Pianist Victor Schioler is brought to it's conclusion. The series contains the greater part of Schioler's studio recordings, supplemented by a selection of live performances and productions made for Danish Radio, and it encompasses, with a single exception, all the works he recorded in the studio. Where he recorded the same work on more than one occasion, one version has sometimes been included and in other cases two or three. Volume 8 presents Schioler in three capacities: as solo pianist, chamber musician and concerto soloist. CD 1 opens with Beethoven's Cello Sonata Op. 69 and Brahms's Cello Sonata in F major, both featuring Schioler in inspired and sympathetic partnership with the 22-year-old Erling Blo¨ndal Bengtsson, who had by 1954, when these recordings were made, already established a considerable reputation. The two cello sonatas are followed by solo piano music, again by Beethoven and Brahms. First comes the Moonlight Sonata, which Schioler recorded no fewer than three times: in 1929, 1942 and 1951. The first and last of these recordings-both outstanding performances-are interpretatively quite close to one another: a slow and dreamlike first movement, a restrained and delicately played middle movement taken at a moderate tempo, and finally a dramatic and stormy yet perfectly controlled finale. The 1942 recording presented here is no less masterly, but differs markedly from the 1929 and 1951 versions in it's more classical approach, with a considerably faster and far less inflected first movement. Fu¨r Elise, which follows immediately afterwards, is not generally counted among Beethoven's major works, popular though it is. Yet Schioler's delicate touch and poetic phrasing elevate this modest work into a little masterpiece. Victor Schioler Volume 1 DACOCD 491-492 Victor Schioler Volume 2 DACOCD 782-783 Victor Schioler Volume 3 DACOCD 832-833 Victor Schioler Volume 4 DACOCD 867-868 Victor Schioler Volume 5 DACOCD 872-873 Victor Schioler Volume 6 DACOCD 962-963 Victor Schioler Volume 7 DACOCD 987-988

The famous Rarities of Piano Music from Husum When Peter Froundjian conceived a festival devoted exclusively to unknown and rarely played piano music, some might have thought the idea too ambitious or even foolhardy. It proved to be a stroke of genius, and since 1987 the strong support of audiences from many countries has been consistent. It has kept it's intimate atmosphere, with a maximum of 130 listeners in the Rittersaal of Husum castle, and 40 more beyond an open door, with a TV screen to keep in touch. It's influence around the world has been considerable, with more ambitious concert programmes in evidence and record companies willing to take on a wider repertoire. This disc contains a particularly large number of short pieces by ten different composers. However, the producers have arranged them thoughtfully into groups and sequences which should make for a coherent listening experience. If these examples encourage listeners to seek out other examples of music by the composers, then they have surely served their purpose. As usual Peter Froundjian made the initial choice of music, with the agreement of the performers. His co-producer Jesper Buhl and the team at Danacord took care of the technicalside, including the final order of tracks and the maximum duration to suit most CD players - about 79 minutes these days. The recordings are all taken from live performances with no editing. If the very noccasional 'noises off' can be heard, they only serve to show how quiet and concentrated the Husum audiences are most of the time.

The final volume of this groundbreaking Thomas Jensen series encapsulates the series as a whole. New remasterings of rare studio recordings from the 1940s complement first-ever releases for live broadcasts from the 1950s and 60s. The repertoire demonstrates Jensen's excellence as a sympathetic concerto partner; an insightful interpreter of Sibelius; and a devoted advocate for the composers of his native Denmark. Note! ALL are first ever releases and all from unpublished radio broadcasts All the previous volumes are available and in stock.

Rare virtuosic piano music by French Widor Widor composed for stage, voice, orchestra, chamber ensemble, and, most famously, organ. When a composer's primary mode of expression is the king of instruments, a certain austerity can attach itself to their reputation and this is arguably the case with the popular view of Widor, because hardly any composers are simultaneously so famous and so unknown. Were it not for John R. Near, the writer of Widor's only definitive biography, who first made me aware of Widor's solo piano music, it is likely I would never have encountered it. The piano works show aspects of Widor's art less present in his seminal cycle of ten Organ Symphonies, which bear the weight of his considerable intellect and erudition; writing for piano Widor seems able to explore other, more fanciful aspects of his nature, and our understanding of this great composer is enriched by it. I have tried to select works which represent the great variety of styles to be found in his solo piano music.

Cecile Licad plays piano music by Scott Joplin Scott Joplin (1868-1917), along with James Scott and Joseph Lamb, forms what are often called the "three B's" of classic ragtime. While hundreds of ragtime composers were active at the turn of the twentieth century-many of them itinerant African American pianists performing largely unnotated rags throughout the Missouri Valley states-it was Joplin who brought the genre into a fully realized, notated art form. These pianists, almost all male and rarely formally trained, were brilliant improvisers who earned their livelihoods in the so-called "tenderloin districts." Often referred to as "professors," they formed a vibrant musical network that fueled the ragtime craze from roughly 1890 until World War I. Joplin himself stood apart. Born in Texarkana shortly after the Civil War to a formerly enslaved father and a freeborn mother from Kentucky, he showed early musical promise and received formal instruction from a Czech-Jewish immigrant teacher. Joplin's respect for disciplined musical training-and his sense of obligation to the genre-shaped the course of ragtime history.

I made my first public appearance as a soloist the same year I graduated and pursued advanced studies in Copenhagen with Emil Telmányi and in Berlin with Willy Hess from 1919 until 1921, and when I returned home, I succeeded in securing a position as a violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra." But already not long afterwards in 1923 he presented himself as a candidate for the leader of the Berlin Philharmonic, which after the death of Artur Nikisch in the previous year now had Wilhelm Furtwängler as it's chief conductor. He won the position over 14 competitors and relates himself: "That was quite something for an enthusiastic young violinist! From the last desk of the second violinists on Kgs. Nytorv to the highly responsible first desk in Bernburger Strasse, enjoying a close working relationship with such a great figure as Wilhelm Furtwängler.

Rare Italian Madrigals Composers from the upper drawer number several well-known names (music quality increasing a lot over the century), among them principally Giaches de Wert (1535-1596), Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613), Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), and, not least, Luca Marenzio (1553-1599), to whom the present CD is entirely devoted. In his rather short lifespan, he managed to write about 500 madrigals between 1580 and 1599. In those two decades, his music developed immensely, reaching it's climax in the last ten years of his life. Though continuing to satisfy his great popular following with loads of small, lighthearted songs, Marenzio excelled also in writing ambitious madrigal cycles, of which two are recorded here: Baci soavi e cari (five 6-part madrigals describing several aspects of kissing) and, maybe his magnum opus, Capitolo - Se quel dolor (ten 6-part madrigals delving into one of the period's favourite subjects: melancholia).

Forgotten Danish Romantic Piano Composer The composer Carl Schwarz (1803-1834) is a puzzling figure in Danish music. There are only a few composers about whom we know less. He is not mentioned in any reference book on the history of Danish music, nor in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. The all-inclusive German Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart also has nothing to say about him. It is, however, certain that he was born in Kiel, the capital of the Danish-owned duchy Holstein, in 1803. There was a considerable and fruitful exchange of knowledge between the universities in Copenhagen and Kiel, so it is hardly surprising that Carl Schwarz arrived in Copenhagen and became a pupil of Kuhlau: he and Weyse were the leading Danish composers at the beginning of the 19th century. Unfortunately, we do not know when Schwarz began to receive tuition, but given that his year of birth was 1803, it is hardly unrealistic to assume that it happened around 1820.

Erling Bloch He was born into a home where artistic matters held pride of place. His father was a painter and at the same time extremely interested in music; therefore, a musical education was a wholly natural thing for the young Erling. Already at the age of seven he received violin tuition and was made familiar with chamber music through the cellist Emil Robert Hansen, the brother of the pianist Agnes Adler, whose piano trio was to be of great significance for him. He entered the conservatoire at the age of fifteen, where already in 1922 he gave his début concert, and only one year later became a member of The Royal Danish Orchestra. Here he was active until 1954, when teaching steadily began to take up more of his time. He had taught at the conservatoire since 1946 and became a professor there in 1949. Here he was held in affection and admired by his pupils, and was musically a central force at the conservatoire until he had to retire at the age of seventy. After his retirement, he continued as an examiner. I met him repeatedly for many years at The Royal Academy of Music, where I was a member of the staff. He was always friendly, attentive, and witty-in short, a person whom we always looked forward to meeting.

The final volume in the historically important collection of rare recordings with the Danish versatile conductor Launy Grøndahl features the opera The Black Spider, an unknown masterpiece by the Swiss conductor Heinrich Sutermeister. In addition to never-before-released broadcast recordings, this volume collects the very first 78RPM recordings made by Grøndahl with his Olympia Orchestra in 1923. All previous volumes, from Volume 1 to this final release, are available.

Gramophone considered Oleg Marshev's first album of Prokofiev on Danacord (DACOCD391) as featuring 'one of the most authoritative and impassioned performances [of the First Sonata] on disc so far'. His interpretation of the 'War' Sonata trilogy was awarded a 'Classic CD Choice' and compared with pillars of the gramophone such as Richter, Berman, and Ashkenazy. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Oleg Marshev trained with Valentina Aristova at the Gnessin State Musical College and with Mikhail Voskresensky at the Moscow Conservatoire. He is numbered among the fifth generation of Russian pianism since Liszt, through the lineage of Alexander Siloti, Konstantin Igumnov, and Voskresensky's teacher, Lev Oborin. Resident in Italy since 1991, Marshev received awards in several international piano competitions in Canada, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the USA, including four first prizes. He is now widely acknowledged as one of the most talented Russian pianists of his generation.

Nancy Dalberg's (1881 - 1949) songs were written in the period from 1909 to the beginning of the 1930s, and through her choice of lyrics she tells a lot about herself and her life. She grew up in a prosperous entrepreneurial environment, and early on she developed skills as a pianist. In 1901 she married First Lieutenant Erik Dalberg, who also had a significant artistic vein, and a few songs were thus written together. Due to an arm disease, however, she had to give up becoming a concert pianist, and with Johan Svendsen and especially Carl Nielsen as teachers, she acquired from 1909 on the compositional skills that, in addition to the songs and other smaller works, led to her string quartets and orchestral works, thus three of her songs are also available in an orchestral version. With the very personal choice of 47 mainly Danish poems, her songs take up a considerable amount of space, and she provoked her contemporaries with a sometimes quite rich piano accompaniment, whereby the soloist and pianist became more equal in the performance. The lyrics range widely from the cheerful to several more serious lyrics that revolve around the family and marital dreams that remained unfulfilled due to her lifelong health challenges and her husband's increasing mental illness, of the present selection, 9 songs have not previously been recorded.

It took C.F.E. Horneman almost 30 years to realise his vision of a Romantic opera based on the young hero from A Thousand and One Nights. Rich in fantastical character and orchestral colour, his score for Aladdin holds ready appeal which has rarely translated into performances. In 1953, Launy Grondahl led a first-rate cast of native Danish singers in this radio-friendly adaptation, which has been newly remastered from the original tapes. This is the penultimate release of the Launy Grondahl Legacy with the last volume 11 in preparation for an autumn 2025 release. All the previous volumes from Volume 1 to this present volume are available DACOCD 880 - 889

The famous Rarities of Piano Music from Husum: When Peter Froundjian conceived a festival devoted exclusively to unknown and rarely played piano music, some might have thought the idea too ambitious or even foolhardy. It proved to be a stroke of genius, and since 1987 the strong support of audiences from many countries has been consistent. It has kept it's intimate atmosphere, with a maximum of 130 listeners in the Rittersaal of Husum castle, and 40 more beyond an open door, with a TV screen to keep in touch. It's influence around the world has been considerable, with more ambitious concert programmes in evidence and record companies willing to take on a wider repertoire. This disc contains a particularly large number of short pieces by fourteen different composers. However, the producers have arranged them thoughtfully into groups and sequences which should make for a coherent listening experience. If these examples encourage listeners to seek out other examples of music by the composers, then they have surely served their purpose. As usual Peter Froundjian made the initial choice of music, with the agreement of the performers. His co-producer Jesper Buhl and the team at Danacord took care of the technicalside, including the final order of tracks and the maximum duration to suit most CD players - about 80 minutes these days. The recordings are all taken from live performances with no editing. If the very occasional "noises off" can be heard, they only serve to show how quiet and concentrated the Husum audie ces are most of the time.

The final volume of this groundbreaking Thomas Jensen series encapsulates the series as a whole. New remasterings of rare studio recordings from the 1940s complement first-ever releases for live broadcasts from the 1950s and 60s. The repertoire demonstrates Jensen's excellence as a sympathetic concerto partner; an insightful interpreter of Sibelius; and a devoted advocate for the composers of his native Denmark

While no pianist himself, Nielsen wrote for the instrument throughout his career, and this recorded survey ranges from early and vividly detailed miniatures to adventurous explorations of rhythm and harmony in some of his boldest late works. According to the composer and Nielsen expert Robert Simpson, the pianist Arne Skjold Rasmussen was 'by far the greatest interpreter of Nielsen in any medium.' He made both broadcast and commercial recordings of Nielsen's piano music during the 1950s and 60s, but his 1960 survey had long been presumed lost. This new transfer of those sessions for the BBC is made from tapes of the original broadcast, in excellent sound for the period.

Music is NOT that which sounds. Music is WHY that which sounds, sounds like it sounds - WHEN it sounds. The above quote by legendary Finnish conductor and larger-than-life composer Leif Segerstam neatly and - in typical Segerstam fashion - cryptically summarizes his philosophy on music, as wells as his unique approach to why music matters. It was felt by and intrigued anyone who was lucky enough to work with him, and it fuelled every aspect of his work in Aarhus, first as principal guest conductor (2018-21) and later honorary conductor (2021-22) for the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. It is also evident in the recordings you have before you, the last ones made before his passing in October 2024. "This man has more music in his little finger than many conductors have in their whole body" is a popular quote by one of the orchestra's musicians, and it aptly describes the feelings of electricity and passion that ran through rehearsals with Leif. There is no doubt that music was everything - and in everything - of Segerstam's life.

The Early Recordings Vol. 2 features a number of Langgaard pioneers who presented piano, organ and vocal works in the period 1963-1974. In 1970, Noe¨l Lee recorded the first LP of piano music by Langgaard; it is reissued here for the first time on CD. Organist Jorgen Ernst Hansen can be heard on Langgaard's Ribe Cathedral organ (1970). In the 1960s, Royal Theatre soloist, Bonna Sondberg recorded several songs and major vocal works for Danmarks Radio, a selection of which are released here for the first time. The album contains examples of the wide range of expression in Langgaard's music from 1909 to 1951.

No one did more for Danish music in his lifetime than Launy Grondahl. In these radio recordings from the 1950s, he conducted unfamiliar works by the father of the classical tradition in Denmark, J.P.E. Hartmann. This music for the stage presents both the light and the serious sides of the 'Nordic tone' which inflected music in Denmark up to the time of Nielsen and beyond. The Nielsen influence emerges in two movements from the First Symphony by his pupil Poul Schierbeck, and then in a ceremonial cantata which was performed annually to mark Denmark's national day. Composed during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, the cantata by Jens Laurson Emborg belongs to it's dark time, and yet it also captures enduring characteristics of the Danish spirit.

Whether you know these sonatas well or are totally unfamiliar with them, you owe it to yourself to hear this set. Schubert playing like this is rare. In July/August I reviewed two recent Schubert discs by Stephen Hough and Malcolm Bilson. Both were well played and well recorded. But I now feel constrained to add that in spite of their many individual virtues as Schubert interpreters, they are light years removed from Damgaard. This set (with it's magisterial playing and even better sound) will surely be my Record of the Year". I am grateful to the editor for bringing it to my attention. If I can bring it to the attention of others, I will have done some good in the world." American Record Guide November/December 1999

The University of York is very fortunate to own this exquisite 1856 Erard London concert grand piano, lovingly restored by Nigel Scaife and tuned to the Bach-Lehman temperament by Aidan Delacey-Simms. The piano is straight strung allowing greater separation of registers compared to it's more homogenised modern counterpart. The strings are damped from below, rather than above as in a modern piano, a less efficient design that results in pleasing result is a wash of colour and a ring of complex overtones that was surely an aesthetic choice. Pianos were likely not tuned in equal temperament in the mid-19th century and my choice of unequal temperament brings extra resonance to the instrument as well as colour to the music. Daniel Grimwood is best known as a world-leading exponent of 19th century virtuosic piano repertoire. Received with critical acclaim, Grimwood's recordings and performances of the music of Adolph von Henselt ensure his international reputation as a groundbreaking, inspirational musician, making him out as a unique voice amongst his generation of pianists. His recording of Henselt's Complete Etudes garnered "instant classic status" by Gramophone Magazine, which also named it piano release of 2023.

Volume 6 of the complete piano music by the leading Danish Romantic composer Hartmann. He was born 1805 and lived nearly to be 100 years. During his time he was the most influential composer in Denmark and wrote beautiful music for solo piano. Here Danish pianist Thomas Trondhjem has reached the sixth volume in this enterprising series.

Etsuko Hirose is an extraordinary sensitive and very brilliant young musician. She is an outstanding pianist. Her virtuosity is really exceptional. - Martha Argerich First complete release of the early DENON recordings of Etsuko Hirose from 2003-2007. Produced for the domestic market, now available worldwide.

Gramophone considered Oleg Marshev's first album of Prokofiev on Danacord (DACOCD391) as featuring 'one of the most authoritative and impassioned performances [of the First Sonata] on disc so far'. His interpretation of the 'War' Sonata trilogy was awarded a 'Classic CD Choice' and compared with pillars of the gramophone such as Richter, Berman and Ashkenazy. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, Oleg Marshev trained with Valentina Aristova at the Gnessin State Musical College and with Mikhail Voskresensky at the Moscow Conservatoire. He is numbered among the fifth generation of Russian pianism since Liszt, through he lineage of Alexander Siloti, Konstantin Igumnov and Voskresensky's teacher, Lev Oborin. Resident in Italy since 1991, Marshev received awards in several international piano competitions in Canada, Italy, Portugal, Spain, USA, including four first prizes. He is now widely acknowledged as one of the most talented Russian pianists of his generation.

The Italian composer and pianist Mario Tarenghi (1870 - 1938) is part of the great romantic music tradition of Lombardy, where the piano occupies a favoured place. At first glance, his piano roduction would seem to be characterised by collections consisting of short pieces with a strong melodic vein and a deliberately morose virtuosity intended for domestic use, sometimes almost pedagogical, rather than for large concert halls; for this reason, the few piano scores reissued in the present day are only included in a few anthologies for beginner pianists. Despite the publishing success of his music during his lifetime, Mario Tarenghi is still a little-known figure on the Italian and international music scene and, a hundred years later, even recordings of his music are still virtually non-existent.

Thomas Jensen is hardly known as a Wagnerian, and yet this complete First Act of Die Walkure - with an all-star Danish cast - is paced and shaped with a keen ear for drama. CD2 continues to expand the Jensen discography with works by two composers intimately associated with Wagner, his father-in-law Liszt and his Belgian disciple Franck. The concert overture Piazza del Popolo is a forgotten showpiece which the Danish composer Walther Schroder drew from his score to a silent movie directed by A.W. Sandberg. All the previous volumes are available and in stock.

A mystic realm tinged with the scent of foreign spices, bewitching music, vivid color and sensual delights... Orientalism sparked a new wave of romanticism in Western art in the 19th century, which had a profound influence on artists. At the time, The Arabian Nights had long been popular in Russia, in a French translation by Antoine Galland that indulged the Francophile passion for all things Arabic. For Rimsky-Korsakov who had a life-long fascination with fairytales especially those from the exotic setting of the mythical Orient,"Scheherazade"was an ideal theme. Born into a family of Russian naval officers, music and the sea became his passion since childhood and he graduated from the Naval Academy of St. Petersburg to become a naval officer himself. While pursuing his musical studies, he embarked on numerous ocean voyages, visiting Brazil, America, Europe etc The Oriental Ballet Suite "Thousand and One Nights" was originally conceived as an orchestral work, first published for piano solo in 1927, and then arranged for orchestra by the composer himself. It gained popularity immediately after it's release and was broadcast on several radio stations.

Svend Simon Schultz (1913-1998) is one of the most remarkable Danish composers and as a conductor he made a significant contribution to Danish songs, not least during his 30 years as head of the Danish Radio Chamber Choir. He was constantly composing and wrote music for movies, chamber ensemble and especially for choir. Svend S. Schultz made a stamp on Danish choral music which is still beaming today. His songs are known by every Dane and his production probably one of the most encompassing of all Danish composers. This is the third CD of a project to record all his nearly 90 choral songs, all of them musically and technically on the highest possible level.

Franz Schubert's Moments Musicaux was published in 1828 but partly written in previous years. After Beethoven's monumental 32 sonatas there were no longer a desire from publishers' point of view to print "sonatas", and as a result composers tried to find alternative titles to shorter pieces such as Impromptus, Nocturnes etc. Probably the second set of Schubert's Impromptus were intended as a sonata (at least according to Schumann), but after protests from the publisher ended up as 4 Impromptus. In the case of Schubert this was in a way an advantage. For although some of his sonatas are among the best music ever written, they were a result of a big struggle to try to live up mto Beethoven. But for him it was the most natural thing in this world to put anything he experienced into music - water flowing, hunting scenes, galloping horses, thunder and more than anything else the best thing he knew - walking. Actually, it is important for any musician approaching Schubert in terms of tempi to take into consideration that there is almost always an element of "walking". This ability is of course the reason for the enorm us number of songs - more than 600! "Give Schubert a menu card - and he will put it into music"! John Damgaard John Damgaard - a student of Georg Vasarhelyi, Ilona Kabos and Wilhelm Kempff - was assistant professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Music from 1969-84, and from 1984-2007 professor at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus. Since many years he is guest professor at Musashino Academia Musicae in Tokyo, Japan, as well as guest professor at the Australian National Academy of Music in Melbourne.

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 Festival in 2023 featuring again rare piano music played by some of the leading pianists of today. This selection of highlights from the 2023 Rarities of Piano Music festival at Husum features composers both familiar and unknown, performed by six outstanding musicians. Recorded live in concert, these performances thrilled the festival audiences, and the spontaneity of the occasion is captured in this sequence of both short and substantial pieces. They range in scale from exquisite miniatures by Bortkiewicz and Menter to the expansive virtuosity of Liszt's rarely encounteres'Concert Solo'. NOTE: All the previous years are available: www. Danacord. com