Interview in Danish Newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad July 23.2026
It Opened an Extra Chamber in Rikke Sandberg’s Heart When She Recorded Carl Nielsen’s Piano Works: “I Can’t Remember Life Without His Music” Journalist: Daniel Øhstrøm,

As the first pianist ever, Rikke Sandberg has recorded all of Carl Nielsen’s currently known piano works. She describes his music as the sound of Denmark, but the great Danish composer has also brought her into contact with the very essence of love.

Six hearts were simply not enough. The other day, Politiken’s music critic Thomas Michelsen had to turn to no less an authority than St Paul, and perhaps the most beautiful passage in the Bible about the greatest thing of all, to describe his enthusiasm for Rikke Sandberg’s three-and-a-half-hour recording of everything currently known to have been written for piano by Carl Nielsen.

Michelsen wrote:

“The greatest of these is love, St Paul wrote in his First Epistle to the Corinthians. Love overcomes everything, and it was Paul’s praise of love and its tireless energy that ultimately came to mind as I listened to pianist Rikke Sandberg’s new album.”

In his review, Thomas Michelsen calls Rikke Sandberg’s new album, Carl Nielsen: The Ultimate Solo Piano Collection, a “monumental achievement”. This is the first time such a comprehensive collection of Carl Nielsen’s piano works has been released.

Comparing it with the biblical hymn to love, which can also be read as an extended portrait of the very nature of God, is praise of the highest order. Needless to say, it takes an exceptionally accomplished musician to live up to it.

“To be honest, I was deeply moved by the review, because Carl Nielsen’s music really has awakened a new love within me. It enabled me to immerse myself more deeply in the music, as though Carl Nielsen had opened an extra chamber in my heart, allowing more room for love. But perhaps it is also simply because I have grown older. We certainly don’t become less sentimental with age,” the 48-year-old pianist says with a disarming laugh from the sofa in her Frederiksberg home in Copenhagen.
She is speaking about her lifelong love of Carl Nielsen’s music, a music without which she cannot remember life.

A Divinely Gifted Freethinker

Rikke Sandberg grew up in a Copenhagen home with both a piano and a clarinet.
“My father was a clarinetist in the Royal Danish Life Guards Band, and my parents listened to a great deal of classical music. So I heard works such as Carl Nielsen’s Wind Quintet and Clarinet Concerto from a very early age. But it is impossible to say when I first encountered his music, because it is so deeply embedded in Danish songs such as ‘Jeg ved en lærkerede’ and ‘Solen er så rød, mor’, which I must certainly have heard before I could speak or sing,” Rikke Sandberg says.

“Carl Nielsen’s wonderful melodies are everywhere in Denmark’s song heritage. Later, I also sang in the choir at Zahle’s School, where I attended primary school, and took part in performances of Springtime on Funen.”
Rikke Sandberg believes that every Dane has a relationship with Carl Nielsen’s melodies. They have firmly established themselves in Danish hearts and in the Danish folk-high-school songbook through songs such as “Den danske sang er en ung blond pige” and “Tit er jeg glad”. He also composed some of the most beloved melodies in the Danish hymnbook.

“Although Carl Nielsen did not describe himself as a Christian, but regarded himself as a freethinker and said that his music was inspired by nature, he nevertheless composed melodies for such devout hymns as ‘Min Jesus, lad mit hjerte få’ and ‘Mit hjerte altid vanker’. His melodies for Grundtvig’s ‘Påskeblomst! Hvad vil du her’ and Jakob Knudsen’s ‘Tunge, mørke natteskyer’ are now among the greatest hits in the Danish hymnbook,” Rikke Sandberg says.

She adds that the hymn composer Thomas Laub, who otherwise had great respect for Carl Nielsen as both a friend and fellow composer, believed that Nielsen ought to refrain from writing church music because he “did not understand the language of religious music”.
But Carl Nielsen was, and remained, a divinely gifted composer whose talent could not be suppressed, Rikke Sandberg believes.

“In many ways, Carl Nielsen’s music is, first and foremost, the sound of Denmark to me. His folk songs are probably the best-known examples, demonstrating his talent for writing singable, unpretentious melodies. He did not compose songs in order to show off, but so that people would sing them. Nor was he a snob as a person. He had friends from every level of society and is said to have been an extremely curious, brilliantly intelligent and broad-minded human being who composed music for people from all walks of life,” she says, adding:

“He also wrote music for the theatre and for orchestras. His incidental music is very accessible, while his symphonies and operas are less popular in character, the music is wilder and more unpredictable, like life itself. But perhaps that is also characteristic of highly intelligent people like him: you cannot always anticipate their next move. That is another reason his music is so exciting, it is full of surprises.”
The pianist rises to offer a taste of the music in the adjoining room, where her Steinway grand piano, like a kind of untidy altar, is draped in silk and covered with scores.

Afraid of Her Piano Teacher

As Rikke Sandberg’s fingers begin to dance across the keys, her large earrings sway gently in time with the music, as if her entire being were leaning into Carl Nielsen’s compositions, which sound divine even here in her living room.

“I am never emotionally overwhelmed when I play myself. I am far too focused for that. But once I have heard a piece by Carl Nielsen, I cannot wait to hear it again,” says Rikke Sandberg.
At the age of 12, she began studying with the pianist Anne Øland, who had herself recorded Carl Nielsen’s piano music.

“I learned a great deal from her. I was also slightly afraid of her. She had an enormous personality, and you could not turn up unprepared and waste her time without being told so. But she was equally generous with praise, which rained down upon me when things went well. I longed for her approval just as much as I feared being scolded. I dreamed of playing all the great Romantic works. She was a tremendous role model for me, and even then she inspired me to want to record Carl Nielsen’s music myself one day,” she says.

Unknown Works

For many years, the dream of recording Carl Nielsen’s music continued to sing within Rikke Sandberg without being realised. Then, five years ago, she was invited to perform a concert of piano duets in Schleswig-Holstein. With the help of a friendly librarian at the Royal Danish Library, she discovered Carl Nielsen’s own, previously unknown arrangement of his Third Symphony for piano four hands.
After recording it with a colleague three years ago, she became curious as to whether any other unknown piano music by Carl Nielsen existed. Then, suddenly, a collection containing 12 Carl Nielsen piano pieces, works she had never previously heard of, was put up for sale.

“It actually turned out to contain 13 piano pieces under the title ‘12 Piano Pieces’,” she says with a laugh. She adds that the musical material contained several other errors because no other pianist had previously examined it in detail.
She did so and also discovered some of Carl Nielsen’s previously unknown incidental music in arrangements for piano made by the composer himself, including the dances from the stage production Aladdin.
Altogether, this amounted to more than an hour of “new” Carl Nielsen piano music, making her CD box set the most complete recording of his piano music to date. In this way, she has become the first pianist to record all of the composer’s currently known piano works.

Heartbreaking Letters

Rikke Sandberg finds it difficult to identify her personal favourites from the album, but one work takes her all the way back to her days as a piano student, when she heard her teacher tackle some of Carl Nielsen’s most difficult music.
“I particularly remember some utterly wonderful passages she played from Carl Nielsen’s so-called Luciferian Suite, Op. 45. It has nothing to do with the Devil. It was given that name because ‘Luciferian’ was intended to mean ‘bringer of light’. The work is still called the Luciferian Suite, although Carl Nielsen himself tried unsuccessfully to withdraw the title when he realized that it was being misunderstood. He was not only gifted in music but also in language, and he was, incidentally, a formidable writer,” Rikke Sandberg says, nodding towards the bookcase containing published editions of Carl Nielsen’s letters.
“Those letters also reveal that he was not always loving himself. For example, he deeply wounded his wife, the sculptor Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen, by being unfaithful while she was away creating her art, and their letters to one another from that period are heartbreaking. On the other hand, Carl Nielsen gave his wife complete freedom to be an artist and to travel, and in that respect they were both ahead of their time.
“But I would not actually describe his music as exceptionally loving. It is more honest and human. Perhaps that is precisely why it opens us to love, because we recognise ourselves in it. Human beings are not merely loving; we are so many other things as well,” she says.

From Friendship to Love

But do you yourself see a connection between his music and the divine?
“Yes, music clearly opens certain channels that we cannot explain. I am not opposed to religion myself, but I probably believe more in love than in God, even though I was baptised and confirmed and married in a church. Historically, I simply do not believe that the Church has always represented love, just as there are also younger religions whose followers slaughter other people in the name of God. But I absolutely believe in everything that springs from love. And the love described in St Paul’s hymn to love is so perfect that none of us can live up to it,” she says, before returning to her love of Carl Nielsen’s music.
“I would describe it as a friendship that has developed into a love affair. When you listen to Carl Nielsen’s most complex music, which is far removed from ‘Jeg ved en lærkerede’, it is probably not love at first hearing for many people, because everything is so unpredictable and unfamiliar. But when you hear it again, it grows on you, and you begin to look forward to hearing it once more. The better you know it, the greater your love for it becomes,” she says, before rising to sit at the grand piano again.
For she will never be finished with Carl Nielsen…

Original Danish text:

Det åbnede et ekstra kammer i Rikke Sandbergs hjerte, da hun indspillede Carl Nielsens klaverværker: Jeg kan ikke huske livet uden hans musik

Som den første pianist har Rikke Sandberg indspillet samtlige hidtil kendte klaverværker af Carl Nielsen. Hun beskriver selv hans musik som lyden af Danmark, men den store danske komponist har også sat hende i forbindelse med selve kærlighedens væsen. Seks hjerter var slet ikke nok. Politikens musikanmelder Thomas Michelsen måtte forleden ty til selveste Paulus og Bibelens måske smukkeste tekstpassage om det største, der overhovedet findes, for at beskrive sin begejstring for Rikke Sandbergs 3,5 timer lange indspilning af alt, hvad man i dag kender af Carl Nielsens egne noder til klaver.

Michelsen skrev: "Størst af alt er kærligheden, skrev Paulus i sit Første Korintherbrev. Kærligheden overkommer alt, og det var Paulus' lovprisning af kærligheden og dens utrættelige energi, jeg endte med at tænke på, mens jeg lyttede til pianisten Rikke Sandbergs nye albumudgivelse."
I sin anmeldelse kalder Thomas Michelsen Rikke Sandbergs nye album "Carl Nielsen: The Ultimate Solo Piano Collection" for en "monsterbedrift". For det er første gang, at en så komplet klaverudgivelse af Carl Nielsens værker ser dagens lys.
Det er selvsagt store ord at sammenligne den med kærlighedens højsang, der jo også kan læses som ét langt portræt af selve Guds natur. Og den skal man mildt sagt være en dygtig musiker for at kunne spille op til.

"Jeg blev ærligt talt helt rørt over den anmeldelse, fordi Carl Nielsens musik netop har åbnet for en kærlighed i mig, så jeg kunne fordybe mig mere i musikken, som om Carl Nielsens musik åbnede et ekstra kammer i mit hjerte, så kærligheden kunne få mere plads i mig. Men måske er det også bare, fordi jeg er blevet ældre. Vi bliver jo ikke mindre rørstrømske med alderen," griner den 48-årige pianist afvæbnende i sofaen på Frederiksberg i København, mens hun fortæller om sin livslange kærlighed til Carl Nielsens musik, som hun slet ikke kan huske livet uden.

En guddommelig fritænker

Rikke Sandberg voksede op i et hjem med både klaver og klarinet i København.
"Min far var klarinettist i Den Kongelige Livgardes musikkorps, og mine forældre lyttede til meget klassisk musik, så jeg har hørt for eksempel Carl Nielsens blæserkvintet og klarinetkoncert, fra jeg var helt lille. Men det er umuligt at sige, hvad mit første møde med Carl Nielsens musik var, fordi den er så integreret i danske sange som 'Jeg ved en lærkerede' eller 'Solen er så rød, mor', som jeg helt sikkert også hørte, før jeg kunne tale eller synge," siger Rikke Sandberg.
"Carl Nielsens vidunderlige melodier er jo overalt i den danske sangskat. Og senere kom jeg også til at synge i kor på Zahles Seminarieskole, hvor jeg gik i grundskole og blandt andet var med til at synge 'Fynsk forår'," siger Rikke Sandberg, der mener, at alle danskere har et forhold til Carl Nielsens melodier. De har skrevet sig sikkert ind i danskernes hjerter og i højskolesangbogen til tekster som "Den danske sang er en ung blond pige" og "Tit er jeg glad", ligesom han også har skrevet nogle af salmebogens mest elskede melodier.

"Selvom Carl Nielsen ikke selv ville kaldes kristen, men betragtede sig som fritænker og selv sagde, at han skrev musik inspireret af naturen, skrev han alligevel melodier til så fromme salmer som 'Min Jesus, lad mit hjerte få' og 'Mit hjerte altid vanker', og hans melodier til Grundtvigs 'Påskeblomst! Hvad vil du her' og Jakob Knudsens 'Tunge, mørke natteskyer' er jo i dag blandt salmebogens største hits," siger Rikke Sandberg.
Hun tilføjer, at salmekomponisten Thomas Laub, der ellers havde stor respekt for Carl Nielsen som ven og komponistkollega, mente, at Nielsen burde holde sig fra at skrive kirkemusik, fordi han "ikke havde forstand på det religiøse tonesprog".
Men Carl Nielsen var og blev en gudbenådet komponist, hvis talent ikke kunne holdes nede, mener Rikke Sandberg.
"På mange måder er Carl Nielsens musik for mig først og fremmest lyden af Danmark. Mest kendt er jo nok Carl Nielsens folkesange, der viser hans talent for at skrive sangbare og usnobbede melodier. Carl Nielsen skrev jo ikke sangmelodier for at blære sig, men for at de skulle synges. Og som menneske var han heller ikke nogen snob, men havde venner i alle samfundslag, og han skulle have været et meget nysgerrigt, lynende begavet og rummeligt menneske, der også komponerede musik til både høj og lav," siger hun og tilføjer:
"Han skrev også musik til teater og orkestre. Scenemusikken er meget let at lytte til, mens hans symfonier og operaer er mindre folkelige, så musikken er mere vild og uforudsigelig – ligesom livet selv. Men det kendetegner måske også højtbegavede mennesker som ham, at man ikke altid kan regne ud, hvad deres næste træk er, så det gør også hans musik spændende, at den er fuld af overraskelser," siger pianisten og rejser sig for at give en smagsprøve på musikken i stuen ved siden af, hvor hendes Steinway-flygel som et slags rodet alter er svøbt i et silketæppe med nodebøger overalt ovenpå.

Bange for klaverlærer

Da Rikke Sandberg sætter fingrene til at danse hen over tangenterne, gynger hendes store øreringe roligt i takt til musikken, som om hele hendes væsen læner sig ind i Carl Nielsens kompositioner, der også lyder guddommelige her i stuen.

"Jeg bliver aldrig rørt, når jeg selv spiller. Det er jeg for koncentreret til, men når jeg har hørt et stykke af Carl Nielsen, kan jeg ikke vente med at høre det igen," siger Rikke Sandberg, der allerede som 12-årig fik en klaverlærer, Anne Øland, der selv havde indspillet Carl Nielsens klavermusik.
"Hende lærte jeg meget af. Jeg var også lidt bange for hende. For hun var en stor personlighed, og man kom ikke upåtalt og spildte hendes tid ved at møde op uforberedt, men til gengæld var hun heller ikke nærig med ros, der regnede ned over mig, når det gik godt, så jeg higede lige så meget efter hendes ros, som jeg frygtede at få skæld ud. Jeg drømte om at spille alle de store romantiske værker. Og selv var hun et stort forbillede for mig, så det gav mig faktisk allerede dengang lyst til en dag at indspille Carl Nielsens musik selv," siger hun.

Ukendte værker

Drømmen om at indspille Carl Nielsens musik sang i Rikke Sandberg i mange år, uden hun fik udlevet den, indtil hun for fem år siden blev spurgt om at spille en firhændig klaverkoncert i Slesvig-Holsten. Til den lejlighed fandt hun via en venlig bibliotekar på Det Kongelige Bibliotek frem til Carl Nielsens eget ellers ukendte klaverarrangement af sin 3. symfoni for firhændigt klaver.

Og da hun fik indspillet det sammen med en kollega for tre år siden, blev hun nysgerrig på, om der fandtes andet ukendt klavermusik af Carl Nielsen, og pludselig blev der solgt en klaversamling med 12 af Carl Nielsens klaverstykker, som hun ikke havde hørt om før.

"Det viste sig i virkeligheden at være 13 klaverstykker, der gik under titlen "12 klaverstykker"," griner hun og tilføjer, at der også var en del andre fejl i det nodemateriale, fordi ingen anden pianist havde gennemgået det. Men det gjorde hun, ligesom hun fandt frem til noget af hans ukendte scenemusik arrangeret til klaver af Carl Nielsen selv. Blandt andet dansene til teaterstykket "Aladdin".

Og tilsammen blev det til over en time "ny" Carl Nielsen-musik til klaver, så hendes bokssæt med cd'er nu er den hidtil mest komplette indspilning af Carl Nielsens klavermusik. På den måde er hun blevet den første pianist til at indspille al komponistens hidtil kendte klavermusik.

Hjerteskærende breve

Rikke Sandberg har svært ved at udpege sine egne yndlingsstykker fra albummet, men ét af dem går helt tilbage til hendes tid som klaverelev, hvor hun hørte sin lærer gå i krig med Carl Nielsens sværeste stykker.
"Særligt husker jeg nogle fuldstændig vidunderlige passager, som hun spillede fra Carl Nielsens såkaldte luciferiske suite, opus 45. Den har intet med Djævelen at gøre, men fik sit navn, fordi det skulle betyde lysbringer. Værket hedder stadig 'Luciferisk Suite', men Carl Nielsen forsøgte selv forgæves at trække navnet tilbage, da han forstod, at det blev misforstået. For han var ikke kun god til musik, men også til sprog, og han var i øvrigt en formidabel forfatter," siger Rikke Sandberg og nikker over mod reolen, hvor Carl Nielsens udgivne breve står.

"Der kan man også læse, at han ikke altid selv var kærlig. Han sårede for eksempel sin kunstnerhustru dybt ved at være hende utro, når hun var væk for at skabe kunst, og deres breve til hinanden i den periode er hjerteskærende. Men på den anden side gav Carl Nielsen sin hustru al plads i verden til at være kunstner og rejse, og på den måde var både han og hun jo forud for sin tid. Men jeg vil faktisk heller ikke beskrive hans musik som ekstremt kærlig. Den er mere ærlig og menneskelig, men det er måske til gengæld det, der gør, at den også åbner for kærligheden i en, fordi man føler sig genkendt af den. Mennesker er jo ikke kun kærlige, vi er også så meget andet," siger hun.

Fra venskab til kærlighed

Men ser du selv en forbindelse mellem hans musik og det guddommelige?
"Ja, musikken åbner jo helt klart nogle kanaler, vi ikke kan forklare. Jeg er heller ikke selv afvisende over for religion, men jeg tror nok mere på kærligheden end på Gud, selvom jeg både er døbt, konfirmeret og gift i kirken. Historisk set synes jeg bare ikke altid, at kirken har stået for kærlighed, ligesom der jo også findes yngre religioner, der slagter andre mennesker i Guds navn, men alt, der udspringer af kærlighed, tror jeg absolut på. Og den kærlighed, der beskrives i kærlighedens højsang, er jo så fuldkommen, at ingen af os kan leve op til den," siger hun, inden hun vender tilbage til kærligheden til Carl Nielsens musik.

"Jeg vil beskrive det som et venskab, der har udviklet sig til et kærlighedsforhold. For når man lytter til Carl Nielsens mest komplicerede musik, der ligger fjernt fra 'Jeg ved en lærkerede', er det formentlig ikke kærlighed ved første lyt for ret mange, fordi det hele er så uforudsigeligt og nyt. Men når man genhører det, vokser det, så man glæder sig til at høre det igen. Og jo mere man kender det, jo større bliver kærligheden til det," siger hun, inden hun rejser sig for at sætte sig ved flyglet igen. For Carl Nielsen bliver hun aldrig færdig med.