"Although the horn has some obstacles to overcome, [...] nature seems to have intended it by and large for singing; moreover, the horn player can draw the best lessons from the school of a good singer. There he learns the art of good phrasing and proper breathing; there he purifies his taste, shapes his style, and ultimately discovers all he needs to know to capture the listener's attention, move him, and - on many occasions - stir his enthusiasm.” (JosephÉmile Meifred: Méthode pour le Cor chromatique ou à pistons, Paris 1840) Solo horn player in the Danish Royal orchestra Claudio Flückiger is here presenting what is the art of playing the horn. He is accompanied by pianist Galya Kolarova.

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 charmed and harmonies known from Schumann and Mendelssohn it will come as a pleasant surprise to all lovers of romantic piano music. Danish pianist Thomas Trondhjem is here presenting the third album of a complete recording of all the works for solo piano by J.P.E. Hartmann. The first two volumes received very positive comments from many critics.

Composed in memory of the wife who passed away. The Danish composer, pianist and leading jazz improvisator Thomas Clausen has composed some of the most intimate and tender songs in the memory of his wife and mother to his soprano daughter Nina Clausen and the result is this new album where they together perform a selection of songs. According to Gyldendals The Great Danish Encyclopedia: “A Danish jazz pianist and composer, influenced by jazz and contemporary European scored music, who has been an integral part of the European jazz scene since the beginning of the 1980s. He is greatly appreciated for his work both as a solo pianist, as trio ensemble leader and for his work accompanying prominent American musicians. As a composer for big ensembles, he has created works that suggest Alban Berg as a big inspiration.“

Last volume of Ravel

On a previous volume of this, the most complete survey of Ravel´s piano music ever recorded, Oleg Marshev “sails through thickets of tremolos and relentless arpeggios, yet remains attuned to the composer´s sensual harmonic language (Gramophone). The final volume brings the composer's oblique homages to the world of ancient régime Paris, in his dance suite after Couperin, and the Vienna of Schubert and Johanns Strauss in constrasting transformations of the waltz. Marshev is a phenomenon.

- BBC Music Magazine

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.

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.

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.

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

First-ever issues of performances which extend our appreciation for the art of the conductor Launy Grondahl. Recorded towards the end of his long career as conductor of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, these broadcasts (1950-56) present Grondahl in both rare and standard repertoire, as a stylish concerto accompanist and as a dedicated servant of Danish composers. A pair of tantalisingly incomplete Sibelius performances testifies to the conductor's deep feeling for the elusive flow of this music, taken from a concert given to mark the composer's 85th birthday

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

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.

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.

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.

Classical Music

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Classical Music