This is Dacapo’s first post on the Naxos Blog: A short article written by Danish music journalist Jens Cornelius, who presents Danish contemporary composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen’s music on the Dacapo disc “Kronos plays Holmgreen” (6.220548) featuring the world famous American Kronos Quartet.
Cover image designed for
Dacapo by Denise Burt
WE RECOGNIZE them right away – the Americans who drop in on Denmark as tourists for a day, two days or half a day. Wearing sunglasses, camera, short-sleeved shirts and with “Let’s Go Scandinavia” in their hands. And a slightly confused look – where is it that we are today?
IN THE MIDDLE of the nineteenth century the Danish national author Hans Christian Andersen predicted that the future would be just like that. “Young Americans” would come to Europe in steam-powered flying machines. They would inspect the remains of noble old Europe, the last ruins of a legendary culture. The only thing Andersen was mistaken about was the timescale – he called his prophetic tale “In a Thousand Years”.
Photo: Jeppe Gudmundsen-Holmgreen
NOT A WORD AGAINST the American Kronos Quartet, who have made a great contribution to global understanding and a better world. But they ARE true-blooded Americans! And they even play with electric amplification! Their old Danish friend, the Danish composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen (b. 1932), exploits the Kronos Quartet’s unique qualities in three new works to be released on a CD from Dacapo later in the year. The big work is the “Concerto Grosso”, where the Baroque tradition is played out deep inside the jungle – the orchestra meets Kronos like a Dr. Livingstone. In the quartet work “Last Ground” Gudmundsen-Holmgreen challenges the potent Americans by asking them to play very quietly and in the end to be flooded out by the sea, which washes over the music on an electronic track. And in “Moving – Still” they are allowed to play hectic American guests in Europe, while the baritone Paul Hillier recites Andersen’s tale of the instamatic tourists of the future. Two worlds meet in a provocative and fruitful way.
I am a singer and a writer of music, and my natural mode of expression is music and sound. I think in sounds and tones, and I produce them, partly in the form of sung sounds and partly as heard, written-down sounds. And it’s a long way from that to the spoken word. - Hanne Ørvad, 2000
As a composer creatively driven by text, it is no surprise that one-quarter of Hanne Ørvad’s compositions are full choral works or that almost all of them use the human voice somewhere in their orchestrations. On September 30, Dacapo releases Corona, a recording that celebrates Danish composer Hanne Ørvad’s most important choral works expertly and powerfully performed by the Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Danish National Chamber Choir, and Danish National Girls Choir.
Ørvad, who began her career as a professional singer in the Danish National Chamber Choir/DR, didn’t start to compose until 1990.The 5 pieces represented on this recording span most of Ørvad’s compositional career, from Winter Organ (1991) to Threna (2003). Vega, composed in 1996 for the Netherlands Chamber Choir, comprises seven continuous pieces in seven strophes that illustrate the star Vega and its luminous surroundings. Using word rhythm and vocal color, Ørvad depicts a far-away galaxy as seen by an earth-dweller. Ørvad’s second choral work, Kornell, consists of three movements, Melody, Adagio and Serenade, based on the poetry by Bo Bergman. Although it refers to music, the poem’s text actually is an expression of love and nature that easily translates into song: “Just walking in the fields / You bring each wellspring alive, Each little mound sings your name.”
Threna (Easter Music I), orchestrated for girls’ choir, tubular bells, snare, low gong, and cello, is a setting of the 13th-century text of the Stabat Mater, which describes the grieving Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross. Dramatic, pleading, and dark, this piece leaves listeners with an impression of the questions raised in the Stabat Mater, using the cello and girls voices as the primary storytellers. The second Easter work on the recording, Paschal Hymn (Easter Music II), is a setting of three English hymns that Ørvad has abridged and edited. Here Ørvad paints a vivid picture of the most significant moment in Christianity: the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The final piece on the recording, Winter Organ, is a striking 12-part choral work of great complexity. Based on the poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Ørvad uses the choir as a unified instrument, while also testing the limits of its expression
Naxos releases two new recordings from the Danish label Dacapo: Rued Langgaard’s Symphony No. 1 “Klippepastoraler” (Mountain Pastorals), BVN 32, featuring conductor Thomas Dausgaard and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra (Dacapo 6220525); and Volume 2 of the String Quartets of Carl Nielsen, performed by The Young Danish String Quartet (Dacapo 6220522).
Rued Langgaard (1893-1952) completed his first symphony at 17. No Danish composer had written such an ambitious, demanding, lengthy symphony, and his was described as unplayable. But in 1913, the work received its first performance with great success by the Berlin Philharmonic under Max Fiedler. Langgaard’s models were Tchaikovsky, Wagner and Bruckner, but the work exhibits striking originality, illustrating a journey from the foot of a mountain where the surf breaks against the rocks to the magnificent, wide view at the summit.
In this prizewinning miniseries, Nielsen’s quartets are brought to new life by the gifted Young Danish String Quartet. Gramophone Magazine named Volume 1 of the Complete String Quartets of Carl Nielsen as an “Editor’s Choice,” asking “Has Nielsen been played better? These young Danes set benchmark standards.” Volume 2 features String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 5 and String Quartet in E-Flat major, Op. 14.
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) brought Danish music into the 20th century; his chamber music holds a prominent position in the international repertoire. The String Quartet in F Minor was first performed during the composer’s visit to Berlin in 1890, and it impressed the most influential musical personalities of the time. The E-flat Major Quartet was published in Copenhagen 10 years later with a dedication to Edvard Grieg.
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