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Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

Throughout her extraordinary career, Michala Petri has embraced the entirety of the recorder's repertoire, from the Baroque to the 21st century. Yet, her great mission has been to bring her simple instrument into the modern concert hall as a solo instrument in front of the symphony orchestra. Danish and Faroese Recorder Concertos is the latest installment in Michala's ongoing "Concerto Project", (previous releases include Chinese Recorder Concertos (6.220603), English Recorder Concertos (6.220606) and the Grammy-nominated Movements (6.220531), presenting new works especially composed for her, from an international roster of some of the greatest contemporary composers. For this latest installment, she turns her attention to the works of her native Denmark.

For most of the 20th century, Danish music was somewhat isolated from the innovations happening on the continent, but beginning in the 1960s, young composers began to experiment and explore, and in the following decades, created their own distinctively modern Danish style. The three works featured here provide just a sample of the rich and colorful diversity of Danish and Faroese contemporary music; from the late Thomas Koppel's tender, tonally-centered Moonchild's Dream, to Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, the dean of Danish composers, and his darkly humorous Chacun Son Son, to the vigorous and atmospheric 20-minute bird-cadenza for recorder and orchestra, Territorial Songs, by the internationally acclaimed Faroese composer Sunleif Rasmussen.

Michala Petri has performed more than 4000 concerts in the worlds leading festivals and Concert Halls,and has broken down the boundaries of her instrument, the recorder.. Since youth she has followed her wish for musical expansion in various ways, through commissioning more than 150 new works, - including more than 30 recorder concertos, through dialogue with other musical cultures and through developing new playing techniques.

Recorder

Michala Petri

Yana Deshkova began playing the violin at the age of 4. She finished her Bachelor Degree at the Guildhall School for Music and Drama in London and continued her studies in Essen and Stuttgart.

Violin

Yana Deshkova

Aalborg Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1943 by the fiery soul, Jens Schrøder, who was principal conductor until 1979. From 1980 until today the orchestra has been headed by the following important conductors: Alf Sjøen, Janos Fürst, Peter Erös, Owain Arwel Hughes, Moshe Atzmon, Lan Shui, Ari Rasilainen, Matthias Aeschbacher and Rumon Gamba.

Orchestra

Aalborg Symphony Orchestra

Henrik Vagn Christensen, born 1963, is educated at the Royal Academies of Music in Aalborg, Aarhus and Copenhagen with Jorma Panula, Frans Rasmussen and Tamas Vetö. Furthermore he studied in Stockholm and London before his debut concert in 1994 with Copenhagen Philharmonic.

Conductor

Henrik Vagn Christensen

When first approaching the music of Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, one hears it described in terms of what it is not: anti-expressive, anti-virtuoso, anti-romantic, the work of an “established outsider”, gleefully thumbing his nose at the conventions of the concert hall and frequently challenging what others would consider “good taste”. Yet, underlying Gudmundsen-Holmgreen’s provocative oeuvre is a passionate life-affirming spirit, an irresistible figure with a child-like sense of wonder, leavened with a dark sense of humor that embraces all of modern life’s absurdities and contradictions, combined with the ability to craft extraordinary and thought-provoking works of sound-art.

Composer

Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen

The Faroe Islands are an archipelago of 18 mountainous islands located halfway between Scotland and Iceland in the Northeast Atlantic. Existing under Danish control since 1388, they are currently a self-governing nation under the external sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark and possess a distinctive Nordic language and culture. Owing both to their isolated geography and the influence of Danish culture, Faroese art music is still a relatively new phenomenon, though the islands boast a variety of rich vocal music traditions, both in terms of a distinctive hymnody and many ballads and folks songs, which were until the lifting of the Danish ban in 1938, the only means of preserving the Faroese language.

Composer

Sunleif Rasmussen

No discussion of 20th century Danish music would be complete without lavish attention being paid to one of the nation’s greatest musical dynasties: the Koppel family, beginning with Herman David Koppel (1908-1998), the eminent Danish composer and his four children, Therese Koppel, pianist (1936-2015), Lone Koppel, soprano (born 1938), the youngest, Anders Koppel (born 1947), beginning his career as a clarinetist but increasingly gaining in importance as a composer, and Thomas Koppel (1944-2006).

Composer

Thomas Koppel

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Reviews

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

November 30, 2019

Endnotes (UK)"OUR label has opened up completely new musical vistas – confirming the company as one of the most daring recording organisations in Europe today"

Stuart Millson

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

January 9, 2016

Das Orchester (Germany) -"Mit ihrer atemberaubenden Virtuosität beflügelt die Dänin die Fantasie zeitgenössischer Komponisten."

Lutz Lesle

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

November 18, 2015

CD Spotlight, Australia "Remarkable Playing .. '... Michala Petri is a champion of this instrument.'

Geoff Pearce,

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

November 14, 2015

Recorder Magazine (UK) - Highly recommended

John Turner

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

November 14, 2015

Klassisk (Denmark) 5 stjerner, Alle blokfløjtens afkroge - Albummet er en demonstration af Michala Petri`s mesterskab, men også af dansk/færøsk musiks næsten bizart mangfoldige frugtbarhed

Jens Cornelius

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

October 25, 2015

Seismograf (Denmark -Magazine for contemporary Music)

Sune Anderberg

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

October 6, 2015

Pizzicato (Luxemburg) Zeitgenössische Blockflöten-Konzerte

Remy Franck

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

September 30, 2015

Gramophone (UK)

Richard Whitehouse

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

September 23, 2015

Klassik Heute (Germany) 10/10/10 "Michala Petris Aufnahmeserie mit zeitgenössischen Konzerten für Blockflöte und Orchester gehört zu den wichtigsten und ambitioniertesten Projekten in der Geschichte des Instruments"

Heinz Braun

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

September 15, 2015

Hufvudstadsbladet, Helsinke, Finland - Komplext och jovialt för blockflöjt

Mats Liljeroos

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

September 1, 2015

Kristeligt Dagblad (Denmark) Nutidige blokfløjtekoncerter (4 stars)

Peter Dürrfeld

Danish & Faroese Recorder Concertos

August 31, 2015

Fanfare (US) , 2.Review -" Petri is an honest, fabulously talented musician who is doing as much for her instrument, if not more, than any recorder virtuoso has ever done".

Raymond Tuttle,