This new release features studio and live broadcast recordings, never previously issued and newly remastered from the original tapes, of Romantic and 20th-century Danish music. Highlights include an atmospheric tone-poem by Gade, ballet and concert scores based on fairy-tales of Hans Christian Andersen, an overture to celebrate the end of the Nazi occupation of Denmark and a colorful set of orchestral variations based on Danish radio ?s theme tune. The performances bear witness to the high technical standard of the DRSO ?s playing, nearly 70 years ago, as well as to the tireless advocacy of Launy Grøndahl for the music of his own country.

The two leading Danish musicians, cellist Gert von Bülow and pianist Merete Westergaard are here together performing the only Cello Sonatas by Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev. The original was one of the first Danacord Long Playing releases and received overwhelming fine acclaim from many critics. Here is the chance to hear this rare LP again newly transferred from the original master tapes to modern technology. Even with strong competition this album will stand out as one of the finest versions. Gert von Buelow studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen. He gave his debut concert aged 21 and continued his studies with Gregor Piatigorsky in Los Angeles and with Pierre Fournier in Geneva. His career as a soloist and chamber musician started at festivals in Europe, Brazil, Canada and in the Far East. His partners on stage were musicians like Paul Badura-Skoda, Joerg Demus, Nelson Freire, Michail Jurowski, Karl Leister, Vladimir Mendelssohn and Norman Shettler. For Danish Radio he recorded classical repertoire and also contemporary music. There are 24 works dedicated to him by Danish composers. In 1992, Gert von Buelow was one of the founders of the International Chamber Music Academy of Kronberg im Taunus (Germany). In 1994 he established the Edison-Trio together with the violonist Ya'akov Rubinstein and the pianist Frank-Immo Zichner. Since 1995 he has been Professor of Violoncello, chamber music and historical interpretation at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Rostock (Germany).

An icon in Danish music. Composer, arranger, conductor, entertainer: Emil Reesen (1887- 1964) cut a dash through Danish 20th-century music. He was the pupil of Rued Langgaard. From 1927 to 1936 he was a conductor at the Danish Radio, 1942 to 44 at The New Theatre of Copenhagen and at the Royal Theatre from 1950. He was the chairman of Danish Conductors' Association, of the Society of the Publication of Danish Music, and of the music committee of the Danish Society. He was also censor at the music department of the Danish Radio. His works include opera, ballets, stage music, film music, orchestral compositions, cantatas, songs. His pieces were always stylishly crafted for the occasion, whether to commemorate a Polar explorer or celebrate a famous castrato. Danacord's wide-ranging tribute includes many live and broadcast recordings never previously issued.

This release features a brand-new recording of the 3rd Piano Concerto by Danish composer Herman D. Koppel performed by leading Danish female pianist Rikke Sandberg. The South Jutland Orchestra is her chosen partner and the conductor the brilliant Bo Holten, himself a fine composer. The album has also solo piano music by Koppel including the first recording of works by the composer´s grandson Benjamin Koppel, - fascinating works for Alto Saxophone and piano. One of the major new releases for 2020! Rikke Sandberg has played solo concerts across the Nordic countries, Europe and the United States in Alice Tully Hall, Concertgebouw and Musikhalle Hamburg etc. and she has worked with names like Sabine Meyer, Phillippe Berrod, Nikolaj Znaider, Radek Barborak and Vincent Lucas and with many of the Nordic regions greatest soloists and concert masters. She is an artistic director of Tisvilde and Langvad Classical Music Festivals and she has, in addition to her solo albums with works by Brahms and Rachmaninov and Anders Koppel’s Double Concerts for Piano and Saxophone with the DR Symphony Orchestra, also recorded film music for “Afgrunden” with DR The “Rebus” orchestra, “Rebus” Mad Cows Sing, “Symbiosis” with Tanja Zapolski and Liszt 2nd Piano Concert and Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concert with Luxembourg Philharmonia.

Classical Music

Kim Sjøgren was the youngest ever concert master of The Royal Danish Orchestra with only 22 years of age. He recorded a few LP releases for Danacord before he moved to the major labels. These rare early LP’s are here presented for the first time in new digital transfers. This is also the chance to listen to the young guitarist Lars Hannibal and the sadly now deceased pianist Anne Øland who was a specialist in the music of Carl Nielsen. A release to treasure and one for all lovers of music for the violin. Kim Sjøgren was born on the 17th of December 1955, in Nakskov, Denmark. He has played violin since he was 3 years old. When he was only 12 years old, he was accepted by The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark, and his debut-appearance was at the prime age of 17. Three years later, he became a member of the Royal Danish Orchestra, where he consequently became concert master at the age of 22, the youngest ever in the history of the orchestra. He has composed music for film, TV and theater. In 1997, Kim Sjøgren founded his own "The Little Mermaid Orchestra" and they subsequently became one of Denmark's most in-demand orchestras. In 2004, Kim Sjøgren was appointed the position of Professor of violin and chamber music at The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark. Kim Sjøgren performes frequently throughout most of the world as a classical soloist and as a stand-up entertainer.

Carl Nielsen and George Enescu both played the violin since their very early childhood. The country boy from Funen, Carl Nielsen, was six years old and was confined to bed with measles, and to while away time, his mother gave him a violin to play on. George Enescu who grew up in the countryside of Moldova, in North-Eastern Romania, was just four years old when he received his first violin lessons from a ‘la•utar’ (a gypsy fiddler) named Nicolae Filip.

Since Filip could not read music, little George learned to play folk tunes by ear. Something similar happened to Carl Nielsen: in My Funen Childhood he tells the story of how his mother, during his illness ‘sat down near the bed with a patchwork and sang some melodies for me, which I tried to repeat on the violin, afterwards. She had a not grand, yet clear and firm voice, and when I played out of tune she said:

'No, now really listen'; and then we tried it again.’

These are the first recordings of the two sonatas for cello and piano and of the last trio for violin, cello and piano by the Russian romantic composer Anton Rubinstein. The works are performed by three fine musicians often playing together and giving a fully convincing performance of these rare works. On the re-issue of the original album a bonus album is included with the first release of the original master tape of the last Rubinstein trio, a large-scale work showing deep understanding of the chamber music combination from this big Russian.

The Danish composer, pianist and conductor, Victor Bendix, was a key figure in Danish music. He composed more than 100 works and performed as a soloist, chamber musician and conductor for over half a century. A controversial character who stood out from Danish society, there were rumors about his private life and numerous love affairs. He was the father of pianist Victor Schiøler, who later became the greatest Danish pianist in modern times. Bendix had an idiomatic feel for the piano and was much admired by Liszt. This is the first complete recording of all his printed piano music scores.

Elisabeth Klein was an icon in the world of contemporary music. She worked with all the leading composers and did an amazing job for the young and coming composers, not least from the Scandinavian countries. Danacord had the luck to release a selection of her finest recordings on LP and it is now out in new digital transfers. Here is a chance to listen to an extraordinary female pianist who interpreted the often most dense and difficult piano pieces with ease and with elegance. Not to be missed! Elisabeth Klein was born in Tren?ín (now Slovakia) and grew up in Budapest, Hungary from the age of 3. At an early age, she showed interest and talent for the piano. She studied at the Franz Liszt Academy already as a young girl, continuing after high school, graduating from the Academy in 1934, where-after she studied privately with Béla Bartók 1934–1936. She formed a duo with the violinist László Halmos. The political turmoil in the thirties made many musicians, not least Jews, leave Budapest. She came to Denmark without clear plans, however, to stay, but at the outbreak of the Second World War she managed to stay. Elisabeth Klein worked for many years with the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen, later she taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, Denmark, and at the Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo, Norway. After her retirement from the Academy in 1981, she continued giving seminars and lecture-recitals at the Academy for many years.

The Danish late-romantic composer Rued Langgaard (1893-1952) composed songs during his whole career. The 18 songs, all new to the discography, were mainly set to poems by German poets and here sung in German by tenor Jens Krogsgaard. The five Erotic poems , taking up the last part of this fascinating sung recital, are all by the Danish poet Vilhelm Krag, with beautiful lines like ‘Once again, I see you, When you arrive and In the wondrous, blond nights.’ Accompanist Jan Ole Christiansen tackles the often very demanding piano part with virtuosity and together with Jens Krogsgaard they deliver a truly magnificent song recital. The hallmark of Jens Krogsgaard is his ability to create strong authentic characters on stage, combining strong skills both as an actor and as a singer. He made his debut at The Royal Opera in Copenhagen in 2002 as Captain Vere in Billy Budd, with considerable success. Since 2009 he has been a voice teacher at The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen.

A truly rare original Long Playing release is here out for the first time on album. The highly musical family of the violinist Emil Telmányi are performing music by two composers close to them and which they have championed all their life. The Nielsen Quintet, a rarely heard early work by the young composer, is here receiving its first modern release together with a selection of the romantic J.P.E. Hartmann works for strings. One critic called the LP “one of the most important additions to Danish music.” Emil Telmányi (22 June 1892 – 13 June 1988) was a Hungarian violinist. Telmányi, who was born in Arad, Partium, Transylvania, then in the Kingdom of Hungary, was also an exponent of the composer Carl Nielsen, having recorded some of his violin sonatas and his violin concerto. Telmányi settled in Copenhagen and was married to Nielsen's daughter, Anne Marie, from 1918 to 1933. One of his most famous recordings is a 1954 recording of Bach's Sonatas and partitas for solo violin played using a violin with what was referred to as the Bach (or Vega) bow, which could be adjusted so the player could play three or even all four strings of the violin at once. He died, aged 95, in Holte, Denmark.

Victor Schiøler was undoubtedly the greatest Danish pianists ever. His fame was legendary and he made some of the most impressive recordings for the Danish HMV and TONO label along with giving concerts all over the world. His recorded legacy is among the most fascinating in existence, and we are proud to give you the fifth volume in an ongoing series of his rarest and most sought-after recordings. This volume of Victor Schiøler’s recordings features two live recordings and the great Haydn and Mozart Trio recordings plus a wide range of popular shorter virtuoso piano pieces.

This is one of those releases you just want to return to over and over again. The music is here is full of elegiac feeling without the dragging sentimentality. Danish composer, conductor and musical icon Bo Holten selected the works and composed solo cello introductions for the pieces, and the result is probably one of the most moving releases of its kind. Bo Holten (born 22 October, 1948) is a Danish composer and conductor. He has written 9 operas, 5 concertos, 2 symphonies, various orchestral pieces and chamber music, film scores and around 40 works for a cappella choir, totaling him more than 100 works in all. He also founded the vocal ensemble Ars Nova in 1979, and vocal ensemble Musica Ficta in 1996.

Messiaen Quartet Copenhagen comprises four experienced chamber, solo and orchestral musicians: violinist Malin William-Olsson, cellist Carl-Oscar Østerlind, pianist Kristoffer Hyldigand clarinetist Viktor Wennesz. Formed in January 2018, the quartet has already become established as a vibrant and versatile group, regularly broadcasting on Danish Radio P2 and collaborating with internationally recognized musicians such as violinists Ray Chen and Carolin Widmann. Messiaen Quartet Copenhagen has performed at many festivals throughout Denmark and Sweden and completed a critically-acclaimed tour of Sweden organized by “Musik i Syd” in January 2020.The ensemble has taken its name from the composer Olivier Messiaen, who wrote the “Quartet for the End of Time”. Other compositions for this unusual combination of instruments include master pieces by Paul Hindemith and Walter Rabl. In addition to detailed performances of these existing works, Messiaen Quartet Copenhagen has commissioned several pieces by Danish composers.