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Olivier Messiaen’s two-and-a-half-hour piano cycle Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jésus is one of the most extraordinary and ground-breaking works in twentieth-century piano repertoire, joining such musical Mount Everests as Bach’s Goldberg Variations and the late Sonatas of Beethoven. That such a work was created in 1944 during the German occupation of France, and yet expresses such joy, conviction, love, and hope makes it all the more remarkable.
At more than two hours in length, the work is rarely performed in full. It takes a special kind of performer who has the physical and emotional stamina and focus to undertake such a task for it places immense technical and musical demands on the pianist. One such musicians is Kristoffer Hyldig. KRISTOFFER HYLDIG is one of Denmark‘s leading pianists, recognized for his musicality and highly personal, sensitive approach. Known for his versatility, he is in demand as a soloist, as well as chamber musician and lied accompanist, and his concerts are often broadcasted on Danish Radio. He is a founding member of Messiaen Quartet Copenhagen, where his work comprises artistic programming as well as closely working with composers, commissioning, and premiering pieces.
Recorded in Vor Frelser’s Church, Copenhagen during one of the most severe periods
during the lock down by producer, recording & balance engineer extraordinaire,
Preben Iwan. The album is recorded in the immersive DXD format by Preben Iwan.

It is a great pleasure that the CD "ALBUM FOR ASTOR" with Bjarke Mogensen is now released. On the album Bjarke is joined by a very strong team,- Danish Chamber Players, percussionist Johan bridger and harmonikaplayer Mathias Heise. Producer is Oscar Michaelsson.

Album of the Week

BBC Music Magazine's album of the week is a new selection of chamber music by the Danish composer Paul Ruders. The Rudersdal Chamber Players give us compelling, persuasive versions of Ruders' Clarinet Quintet, Piano Quartet, and Throne for clarinet and piano.

Each of these three pieces, as our reviewer Steph Power explains, is 'a taut combination of clean lines and often dissonant, sometimes otherworldly chords built from seemingly small beginnings.'

In short, Ruders excels at enigma: and, says Steph, these performers 'embody the intimacy that enables its execution, while taking flight where needed.'
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The Trio Michala Petri, Hille Perl and Mahan Esfahani has just started today the rehearsals for the upcoming recording of The Corelli Connection. The recording will take place in Garnisons Church in the center of Copenhagen with producer Mette Due. The release is scheduled to be April 2023.

“In 2006, a Chinese colleague in Shanghai gave me a wonderful bilingual book of poems from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). These poems have as a common theme man’s wonder at and deep dependence
on nature. In their apparently naive form, they explore the reverence humans used to have for nature, and give perspective to the distorted relationship we have today.” Lars Hannibal
The poems of ancient China have fascinated and inspired western composers and as far back as the 1830s when Carl Loewe (1796-1869) first set verses from Goethe’s Chinesisch-deutsche Jahres- und Tageszeiten. This love affair would culminate most famously in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. While nowhere near
as ambitious Mahler, Hannibal’s settings of Tang Dynasty poetry in Mirror of the Past do inhabit a similar emotional world as Mahler’s autumnal masterpiece, the contrapuntal interplay of percussion, voice, guitar, recorder and erhu sounding as if an ancient of painting has been brought to life. From the wistful elancholy of My Delayed Departure to the tolling of evening bells in The Dale of Singing Birds, Hannibal and friends take you on a fabulous journey through time and sound vivid captured in immersive DXD by the internationally celebrated master of sound, Preben Iwan. Joshua Cheek

All my life I have admired, studied and performed the music of the extraordinary Argentinian composer, Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992). It is a great pleasure to release a whole instrumental Piazzolla album for the centenary of his birth. I decided to base my tribute solely on Piazzolla titles but also dived headlong into designing a varied and comprehensive listening experience, an hour of interchanging accordion solos, instrumental duos, and pieces that I arranged for myself and a small group of mixed instruments.
The music is all Astor but with a touch of Bjarke here and there and maybe everywhere, in fact. There are no
singers involved, but Piazzolla’s music sings, and our instruments sing, and at every corner there is melancholy, tripping feet, fast figures, and an atmosphere of Buenos Aires. Bjarke Mogensen
All of Piazzolla’s more than 750 works are inextricably bound to an essential and unmistakable Argentinian identity. In commemoration of 100th anniversary of the birth of the genius of Nuevo Tango, the young Danish master of the modern accordion, Bjarke Mogensen, is joined by the award-wining percussionist Johan Bridger and winner of the title “Chromatic Harmonica World Champion”, and ‘New Jazz Star of The Year’ Mathias Heise. Together with members of The Danish Chamber Players they bring Piazzolla’s vibrant and sensuous scores vividly to life!

It is a great pleasure to inform about our new OUR Recordings Digital EP: MIRROR OF THE PAST – music I have composed, based on four Tang Dynasty Poems. It has been great and inspiring to read the Tang Dynasty Poems which as a common theme has man’s wonder at and deep dependence on nature. In their apparently naive form, they explore the reverence humans used to have for nature, and thereby give perspective to the distorted relationship we have today. As such it is a comment to the environmental situation the world is facing today. The music is written for counter tenor (Stephen Yeseta) - erhu (Xu Ziling) - recorder (Michala Petri) - percussion (Gert Mortensen) and guitar (which I play myself).

It is a pleasure for OUR Recordings to announce that we have recorded FOUR NORDIC SONGS TO OUR WORLD with the Norwegian singer Birgitte Grimstad, together with Michala Petri and Lars Hannibal. The four "Old Songs" unfortunately have a great actuality - they speak about human greed, the current environmental situation and the stupidity of war. Birgitte Grimstad performs with an intensity that goes directly in to your heart and mind. The release will be September 2. and you can already now find videos on YouTube.

It is a real pleasure for OUR Recordings to release 3 chamber music works by the Danish composer Poul Ruders - performed by one of Danmarks leading ensembles: Rudersdal Chamber Players. (More about the release and the ensemble on the website.) The Danish release will be August 23. - and the worldwide release will be September 2. The cover painting "PANTA REI" is by the Barcelona based Danish painter Lars Physant.

OUR Recording is very happy to announce that our latest two releases 1) "LUX AETERNA" with Danish National Vocal Ensemble conducted by Marcus Creed and 2) "QUATOUR POUR LA FIN DU TEMPS" with Christina Åstrand, Johnny Tessier, Henrik Dam Thomsen and Per Salo have both received The Global Music Award Silver Medal.