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 3rd Festival in 2019 featuring again rare piano music played by some of the leading pianists of today. Among the highlights you will find the truly remarkable pianist Cyprien Katsaris and very rare piano works by Bizet and Fontana. Many of the works are first ever recordings and, as usual, all are unedited live performances. All lovers of piano music will want this release, not only because of the first class pianism from truly outstanding performers, but also because the quality of the often unknown and rare mostly romantic piano music is of such invaluable substance. Critics are raving about the piano sound and the long and informative booklet.

Danish composer Leif Kayser could have been 100 years here in 2019 and we are releasing for the first time on modern technology two rare LP issues, one with the Hindemith-inspired Horn Concerto and the Trio which has strong resemblance to the French school. Most important is a series of piano music performed by the virtuoso composer himself. This album is done using the original master tapes and is probably the most significant example of the art of Leif Kayser, a composer strongly in the line of Nielsen. Leif Kayser was an organist and composer. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen with Poul Schierbeck and Hilding Rosenberg and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. He later returned to the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen as a teacher. He had extensive concert activities as an organ and piano soloist. His works include orchestral music (four symphonies etc.), compositions and transcriptions for concert band, film music, piano, organ, and chamber works; choral music (five masses etc.) and songs, including children's songs.

The Anthology of American Piano Music is designed to show the stylistic breadth, high musical quality and great originality of the best American piano works. While the preceding three volumes presented works for solo piano by multiple composers related to one theme (Vol. 1, "American First Sonatas"; Vol. 2, "Music of the Night - American Nocturnes"; Vol. 3, "American Landscapes"), Vol. 4 is dedicated to one composer, presenting the complete works for piano and orchestra by George Gershwin. Vol. 5, a theme CD focusing on "American Dances", is currently in preparation.

Also available in this series by pianist Cecile Licad: Anthology of American Piano Music, Vol. 1: America's First Sonatas and Anthology of American Piano Music, Vol. 2: American Nocturnes

Another release in our ongoing series of American Piano Music played by the brilliant pianist, Cecile Licad. This volume, concentrating on music inspired by the American Landscape, features many piano pieces not available in a modern digital recording and is essential to all lovers of piano music. Cecile Licad’s unique natural pianistic talent was recognized early. She began her piano studies at the age of 3 and made her debut as a soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Philippines in her native Manila at 7. When she was 12 she auditioned for Rudolf Serkin and was admitted to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Ms. Licad’s international career was launched in 1981 after she had been awarded the prestigious Leventritt Gold Medal. Since then, Ms. Licad has appeared throughout the world alongside the finest symphonies and in solo recitals.

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REVIEWS:

It is not hard to find the overt romanticism of Franz Liszt and Joachim Raff in William Mason’s beautiful filigree ‘Silver Spring’ op.6. This was composed around 1850. The liner notes point out that the work is full of ‘delicate bravura figuration and cadenza-like flourishes.’ Mason’s piano music was at the ‘top end’ of the then fashionable salon pieces. It is stunningly played here by Cecile Licad.

Still's A Deserted Plantation utilizes all the devices of jazz and blues. The work is moving and exhilarating at the same time. It is resourcefully played here by Cecile Licad.

– MusicWeb International

This third volume of Cecile Licad’s ‘Anthology of American Piano Music’ is a model of imaginative program-building. On the whole, Licad’s caring and intelligent performances and the savvy program selection by David Dubal and executive producer Thomas Nickelsen augur well for future volumes.

– Gramophone

Danish composer J.P.E. Hartmann was the leading romantic Danish composer who influenced generations of Danish composers, not least Niels W. Gade and the son Emil Hartmann. He was a prolific composer and composed in all genres. His extensive music for piano is sadly too little known outside Denmark, but with its romantic tone, melodic charm and harmonies known from Schumann and Mendelssohn it will come as a pleasant surprise to all lovers of romantic music for piano. Danish pianist Thomas Trondhjem is here presenting the second album of a complete recording of all the works for solo piano by J.P.E. Hartmann. The first volume received very positive comments from many critics.

This album is the final volume in the retrospective series featuring Finn Videro, undoubtedly the best Danish organist ever. This album features the legendary recordings on the 17th century Compenius organ together with the much sought after baroque German organ works. Also included is a rare live recording from Dallax, Texas from Videro’s teaching years. Viderø was born in Fuglebjerg, Næstved. He was the organist at the Reformed Church in Copenhagen from 1928 to 1941, the Jægersborg Church from 1942 to 1947, the Trinitatis Church in Copenhagen from 1947 to 1971 and St. Andreas Church in Copenhagen from 1971 to 1977. He was guest lecturer at Yale University and held an honorary doctorate from the University of Åbo in Finland. In 1933, he co-published with Oluf Ring a widely used organ primer. His organ playing was uncompromising and many believed that Viderø's musical interpretations were as close to the authentic, artistic and historical representation intended by the composer as one could get.

The present album is the first ever release of rare recordings from the Finnish Radio with the greatest Danish female pianist of all time. During the 50s and 60s,Finnish radio made broadcasts of the pianist France Ellegaard in a wide range of repertoire from little-known 18th-centurychamber music to Romantic concertos by the ‘Finnish Rachmaninov’, Selim Palmgren. Newly remastered and issued here for the first time in any format, these recordings capture Ellegaard at the peak of her powers, in command of a formidable dynamic range and touching everything she plays with lyrical insight.

Two previously unissued broadcast performances of Brahms make major additions to the recorded legacy of Thomas Jensen. A long unavailable, newly remastered studio recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto also contributes to an appreciation of the Danish conductor as a dynamic figure who could inspire the most exciting and flexibly molded interpretations of the central orchestral repertoire. Thomas Jensen studied at the Danish Conservatory of Music. Jensen led several Danish ensembles, including the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (from 1957) and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra (then known as the Aarhus Civic Orchestra). In Aarhus he built the small orchestra up through broadcasts and tours within Denmark and later to Germany and the Netherlands. He also conducted the Tivoli Concert Hall Orchestra.

Danish conductor and composer Launy Grøndahl (1886-1960) was the leading figure developing the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra all from the very first beginning of the orchestra in the 1920s until his retirement in 1956. He was also a truly original composer with links to Carl Nielsen and back to Mendelssohn, however with a certain flair for the French impressionism. The new series of releases will contain every single recording which can be found of Grøndahl, both live and studio recordings as well as his commercial releases. The present volume invites us into the rhapsodic, mercurial world of Launy Grøndahl: featuring four concertos, a tone-poem and a symphony, covering the whole span of this Danish conductor-composer’s creative output.

Having played the cello in several of the symphonies under the composer's baton, Thomas Jensen brought a definitive combination of passion and authority to the music of Jean Sibelius. To launch an extensive series dedicated to Jensen's artistry, Danacord presents a new compilation of major works by the Finnish composer in live and studio recordings, including album premieres for these broadcast performances of the Second and Seventh symphonies. Thomas Jensen studied at the Danish Conservatory of Music. Jensen led several Danish ensembles, including the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (from 1957) and the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra (then known as the Aarhus Civic Orchestra). In Aarhus he built the small orchestra up through broadcasts and tours within Denmark and later to Germany and the Netherlands. He also conducted the Tivoli Concert Hall Orchestra.

Nils Sylvest studied with Professor Erling Blöndal Bengtsson at the Danish Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen. Since 1980 he has worked for Danish Radio (DR) as a member of the DR Symphony Orchestra. On several occasions he has performed as a soloist, both with them and with the DR Chamber Orchestra, as well as performing with other orchestras. Nils has given concerts both at home and abroad, including engagements in England, France, Belgium and the Scandinavian countries. He was a member of Den Danske Kvartet, (The Danish Quartet), from 1984 – 1988 and has received amongst other awards the Jacob Gade prize and the Anmelderringens Kunstnerpris, (Critics’ Circle Artist’s Prize). Nils plays on a cello built by Johannes Gagliano in 1811. It was in 1982 adapted specially for Nils, as he plays left-handed. Mimi Birkelund began playing the piano at the age of four. She trained at the Danish Royal Academy of Music with Associate Professor Amalie Malling, graduating in 1991, before furthering her studies through soloist classes with Professor Hans Pålsson in Lund, Sweden. Mimi was a finalist in the Nordiska Pianinistkonkurrencen (Nordic Pianist Competition) in 1992 and also at the Festival for Young Soloists in 1993. She made her debut as a soloist with the Danish Radio Chamber Orchestra playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 1 in Copenhagen and in Malmö. She has been awarded Denmark’s most prestigious scholarship for pianists, the Martha Stuhres Piano-Stipendie. On this release, the duo presents a program of cello works by Brahms and Schumann.

An exciting new recording featuring the talented young Danish cellist Carl-Oscar Østerlind in a rare recording of the Brahms Clarinet Sonata arranged for cello and piano. Østerlind is accompanied by the young virtuoso Emil Gryesten. Celebrated for his great versatility, charisma, and directness of communication, Scandinavian cellist Carl-Oscar Østerlind enjoys a career as a soloist and chamber musician. Praised for his “incredible presence” in the Danish newspaper Politiken, Mr. Østerlind’s qualities have been recognized with many awards. Of particular note are his achievements as First Prize winner of the Danish String Soloist Competition, and as a top prizewinner in Sweden's prestigious Ljunggrenska Competition. Carl-Oscar Østerlind studied at the Royal Academy/Edsberg Institute in Stockholm with Torleif Thedeen, Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with Morten Zeuthen and at University of Southern California in Los Angeles with Ralph Kirshbaum. Furthermore he received guidance from Frans Helmerson in Piteå and Hans-Jørgen Jensen in Chicago.

Danish cellist, Carl-Oscar Østerlind (b. 1984) is one of his generation ?s most versatile musicians. He has been described by the Los Angeles Times as a “superb cellist” and was recently awarded the Danish Arts Council ?s career grant “Den Unge Elite”. In 2010 he won the Danish String Competition and was a top prizewinner of the “Ljunggrenska Competition” in Sweden. Carl-Oscar Østerlind appeared as a soloist and chamber musician at festivals such as Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute, Piatigorsky Cello Festival, Verbier Festival, Ipalpiti Festival, Prussia Cove ?s “Open Chamber Music” and Bergen Festspillene. As a concerto soloist, he performed in front of orchestras in Denmark, Sweden, USA and Mexico.

"A cello speaks a language without words that everyone understands. It tells more clearly and more directly than anything else about that which is most important - about everything that cannot be said with words. Stories from another dimension without physical realities, where one can soar with weightless tones, lose the sense of up and down in the metamorphosis of harmonies, and forget oneself in the hypnosis of rhythm.

"After graduating from The Royal Danish Academy of Music I had an immense thirst for taking my cello out on adventures. I traveled in Bhutan, India, Thailand, Japan, the USA, Canada, and Europe with my cello on the back. Travelling with a cello is like an invitation for adventures. I could never have imagined the kind of surprising, odd, and eye-opening experiences my cello has caused. It is as if a cello makes anybody friendly. I think it is true that with music the distance between people disappears." -Ida Riegels

This release is the third volume in the retrospective series featuring Finn Videro, the finest Danish organist of all time. When the four LP records were released worldwide with Videro playing the organ music of Buxtehude they won the Grand Prix du Disque and lifted Buxtehude playing to a new level that few since have reached. These recordings have been digitally remastered and presented here. Viderø was born in Fuglebjerg, Næstved. He was the organist at the Reformed Church in Copenhagen from 1928 to 1941, the Jægersborg Church from 1942 to 1947, the Trinitatis Church in Copenhagen from 1947 to 1971 and St. Andreas Church in Copenhagen from 1971 to 1977. He was guest lecturer at Yale University and held an honorary doctorate from the University of Åbo in Finland. In 1933, he co-published with Oluf Ring a widely used organ primer. His organ playing was uncompromising and many believed that Viderø's musical interpretations were as close to the authentic, artistic and historical representation intended by the composer as one could get.