Fanfare 4

*****
The greatest triumph of all here is the resurrection of Ole Schmidt’s music. Performances could not be bettered
È OLE SCHMIDT Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra1. Echoes2. Toccata No. 13. Double Concerto for Violin and Accordion4. 1,2,4Max Artved, cond; 1,2,4Royal Danish Academy of Music CO with 1Jesper Sivebǣk (gtr/elec gtr); 2Rasmus Kjøller, 2,3,4Bjarke Mogensen (acc); 4Christina Åstrand (vn) OUR RECORDINGS 9.70858 (41:38) reviewed from MPs files, 44.1 KHz, 16-bit
Entitled “The Forgotten Legacy,” this is available digitally and (with catalog number OUR-LP--008) on vinyl. Ole Schmidt was probably best known as a conductor: I remember him conducting the HallE in November 1980 in Shostakovich Fifth Symphony and an all-Sibelius first half (Finlandia and the Violin Concerto with Eugene Sarbu: the Sibelius pieces ended up on a Classics for Pleasure LP I treasured). Unfortunately, Hallé’s performance of his Concert Piece for Trumpet and Trombone, which took place in December 1976, just predated my concert-going activities (I would have been eleven, and started attending around the age of 13 or 14). It turns out the Echoes was completed in 1993, in Manchester.
So it is good to meet Schmidt again, albeit posthumously (Schmidt died in 2010; he was born 1928), and as a composer. Schmidt composed in many genres. Here, he is championed by two musicians who are professors at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, guitarist Jesper Sivebæk and accordionist Bjarke Mogensen, who undertook research to look into Schmidt’s output. Mogensen is joined in the Mythos Duo by the concertmaster of the Danish National RSO, Christina Åstrand.
The Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra dates from 1976, and is heard in the 2024/25 revision by Sivebæk, who describes the second movement as “co-composed,” and who contributes a most useful essay to the booklet. With the final movement for electric guitar (and a plethora of added effects, semi-authorized by Schmidt, who had become very excited by the possibilities), this emerges as a fine work of much compositional fluency. The first movement starts in a remarkably easy-going fashion, but acid soon becomes part of the mix. As does gesture: the first movement solo guitar and harp scales, for example. I do hear the flute as adding a pastoral element to the palette, and the Principal Flute of the Royal Danish Academy Symphony, Anna Hesselhøj, is excellent. Strummed chords form the backdrop for the melody of the second movement’s opening, a highly poignant tune that seems entirely natural on guitar. Sivebæk is just exceptional, always seeking the poignancy of Schmidt’s line. The finale, marked, “Toccata,” begins rhythmically, on percussion, joined by the Gibson electric guitar. Woodwind provide circular themes, almost pointing towards Arabic music. Guitar/wind exchanges are beautifully tight, while the musical language is perfectly consistent throughout.
The Guitar Concerto was performed by these forces at the Danish Royal Academy of Music, Copenhagen, on May 17, 2025; the recording sessions for this disc date from May 29-30, so no wonder it all feels so lived with and comfortable.
The three other works also required extensive revision, and all credit to the KUV Project (artistic research) that allowed for this. Second is Echoes (1993) for two accordions, strings and percussion, most likely intended for a close friend of the composer’s, the accordionist Mogens Ellegaard (1935-1995). This is the World Premiere recording, and the core mystery of the piece is certainly intact, coupled with a pronounced eeriness. Percussion plays a vital part, as do high, hovering strings. To be honest, I wish the piece was longer: it’s only 3”17. Making just over seven minutes, the 1940 Toccata No. 1, featuring Mortensen on accordion, is jolly (is that a play on Beethoven’s Für Elise at the opening?) and is for solo accordion. The piece certainly lives up to its title, restless, momentum unceasing, and Mogensen’s performance is electric, and, at times, witty.
Finally, the Double Concerto for Violin and Accordion of 2005. There is a Neoclassical element to this, and if that invokes Stravinsky, you might not be so far wrong, but Stravinsky layered like Ives. The timbral equivalence of the violin and accordion in high mid-/upper registers is fascinating, and certainly something Schmidt plays with. The recording is highly spatialized: one can pinpoint where every instrument is, as if one is observing a live orchestra. The Andante is rooted by a pedal bass, while woodwind offer heady, mobile (if slowly) harmonies. The arrival of the accordion is pure magic, a high note hanging there like a thread before the lower registers allow for mobility. Åstrand and Mogensen worked as the perfect team in the first movement; but here, we get to hear and to revel in Åstrand’s clean lines and lovely tone. Finally, a Neobaroque finale in which Schmidt’s imaginative scoring seems to know no limits: colorful in extremis, mobile, exciting,this is the perfect close. Again, that timbral equivalence is part of the equation, the accordion here almost sounding, at times, like a duetting solo violin from the orchestra. This is a very clever score, but also a highly enjoyable one, and the performances cannot be faulted.
I had to remind myself time and time again this was not a fully professional orchestra, such is the orchestral standard. Soloists could not be bettered. Musicologically, too., this is a triumph, but the greatest triumph of all here is the resurrection of Ole Schmidt’s music. More, please. Colin Clarke