Four stars: An interesting well-performed and compilation of rarely heard 20th century Danish chamber music.

BORUP-JØRGENSEN Intrada, op. 149 for solo percussion.1 Trio, op. 134 for cl, vc, & pn.2,3,4 Ricostruzioni, op. 71 for woodwind quintet.2,5,6,7,8 Malinconia, op. 68 for str. Quartet.3,9,10,11 Distichon, op. 67 for vn & pn.4,12 Rapsodi, op. 114/3 for viola.11 “mikroorganismer,” op. 20b for str. Quartet3,9,10,11 ● 1Christian Martinez (perc). 2Ron Chen-Zion (cl). 3Pau Cordina (vc). 4Kristoffer Hyldig (pn). 5Kerstin Thiele (fl). 6Niklas Kallsoy Mouritsen (hn). 7David Daniel Dinu (ob). 8Antti Salovaara (bsn). 9Joel Bardolet (vn). 10Bernat Prat Sabater (vn). 11Michel Camille (va). 12Tim Crawford (vn). ● OUR/8226921-22 (65:58)

This disc seems like a labor of love by OUR Recordings and the featured artists comprising the Esbjerg Ensemble, a 10-member Danish chamber music group consisting of a wind quintet, a string quartet, and a percussionist. They are joined here by several guest artists, including two Spanish violinists (Bardolet and Sabater), a Faroe Island horn player (Mouritsen), and a pianist (Hyldig) – the latter earning shared billing on the album cover. These talented musicians have come together to pay homage to Axel Borup-Jørgensen (1924 – 2012), a Danish composer with whom I was not previously familiar. On the basis of this recording, one might characterize his oeuvre (with no intent to disparage) as “atonal lite.” Without having the scores at hand, and admittedly working from a limited sampling, it’s difficult to be definitive, but my overall impression is of a composer more interested in creating varied soundscapes than in developmental procedures. The chamber music on this disc exhibits textures that are rather spare, timbrally (though perhaps not compositionally) reminiscent of Webern.
After spending much of his childhood in Sweden, Borup-Jørgensen returned to Denmark as a student at The Royal Danish Academy of Music, with the piano as his main subject and supplementary lessons in instrumentation. There he studied with Niels Viggo Bentzon, among others. His lifelong interest in post-war European musical aesthetic (he was particularly enamored with Ligeti’s music) led him to two separate stints at Darmstadt.
My favorite piece from this collection is a fairly late work, Intrada (1993-94) for solo percussion. It would be a treat to actually see it performed live. There is tremendous variety in textures deployed via tom-toms, bongos, cymbals, glockenspiel, marimba, and vibraphone, along with some more unusual sounds produced by glass bottles, suspended springs, an anvil, pieces of glass, and even a steel pan drum. The program notes indicate that not everything is notated and there is considerable opportunity for improvisation by the percussionist, Christian Martinez, who is superb.
At the other end of the spectrum, my least favorite work is Distichon (1974) for violin and piano. It is not at all “full of sound and fury” but rather a series of meandering episodes at roughly the same dynamic level that quickly becomes monotonous.
The rest of the music is pretty standard fare in the universe of Darmstadt-influenced works, albeit with a predominantly introspective, lyrical bent where the dynamics rarely get to the level of forte. Everything seems extremely well performed and, as usual with OUR Recordings, beautifully engineered and sumptuously recorded. Recommended for those who like this repertoire or who enjoy exploring rarely trodden byways of late 20th century Scandinavian music. Keith R. Fisher
Four stars: An interesting well-performed and compilation of rarely heard 20th century Danish chamber music.