Thomas Jensen Legacy, Vol. 9

Emil Reesen 1. Intermezzo from the opera The Story of a Mother Finn Høffding 2. Procession from the opera The Emperor’s New Clothes Henning Wellejus From H.C. Andersen’s picture book, first performance 3. Ole Lukøje arrives. Ole’s dance Andante sostenuto 4. The Top and the Ball. The butterfly. The butterfly’s dance. The Spring Guys. The little Mermaid 5. The Nightingale. They talk in each other’s mouths. They dance a gallop. The figures gradually disappear. The boy’s lullaby. Ole’s dance (and the disappearance) Knudåge Riisager From the H.C. Andersen ballet Twelve with the Mail 6. January 7. May 8. August 9. October Fini Henriques Suite from the ballet The Little Mermaid 10.Polonaise 11. Menuet 12. Valse lente 13. The Dance of the Joy of Life Knudåge Riisager On the Occasion of – 14. In the Black Pot 15. Paul and his chickens 16. Tinkle-tankle, tin soldiers Finn Høffding 17. “It is Perfectly True!” after H.C. Andersen Knudåge Riisager Paradise of Fools, suite 18. Prelude 19. Departure 20. The Royal Guardsmen 21. Lazy-Bones Polka 22. Princess Sweets 23. Procession of Gluttons 24. Point Finale Two Beggar-pupils Songs Now let us sing 26. The song about the birds Ebbe Hamerik   1. Quasi passacaglia e fuga. For string orchestra Suite from the opera Marie Grubbe 2. Masked Ball at Rosenborg 3. Winter Day at Tjele 4. On Akershus 5. The Song of Tjele 6. Ribe Market 7. Outside the Cathedral Herman Sandby The Vikings at Helgeland From Forest Impressions 9. Summer 10. Autumn Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann 11. Triumphal March of the Nordic Gods from the ballet Thrymskviden Niels W. Gade 12. Mariotta. Comedy play overture Herman Sandby Double Concerto for violin and cello 13. Allegro moderato 14. Andante 15. Allegro Three Danish Folk Songs, arranged for string orchestra by Launy Grøndahl 16. The song about Marsh Stig’s daughters 17. An Adorable and Joyful Summertime 18. Folk song from Langeland Thomas Jensen Legacy, Vol. 10 © Martin Granau/Peter Quantrill The present collection of live and studio recordings focuses on repertoire little known beyond Denmark and even within it, including a pair of first performances and several other pieces which receive here their first commercial release in any medium. It could be considered almost de rigeur for a Danish composer to write at least one piece inspired by the nation’s most enduring author, Hans Christian Andersen, and the anniversary of his birthday on April 2, 1805, has always been celebrated with events, readings, concerts and broadcasts. One such took place in 1958. The actor Poul Reumert read two of Andersen’s tales in a broadcast from the author’s house in Odense. On the following day, April 3, the DRSO gave a concert of Danish pieces all inspired by Andersen’s writing, beginning with a Festival Overture by August Enna. The remainder of the concert presented on CD1 has survived on tape, and so the album begins in melancholy fashion with the Intermezzo from Historien om en moder, composed by Emil Reesen in 1940 for the soprano Tenna Kraft in the title role. Carl Gandrup’s libretto is based on Andersen’s black tale of a mother who loses her sick child and eventually gives up negotiating with Death, when she realizes that the child – were it returned to her – might face a life of misery. A more familiar tale to readers and audiences beyond Andersen’s native land is The Emperor’s New Clothes, which Finn Høffding adapted as a three-act opera first performed at Copenhagen’s Royal Theatre in December 1928. In this early part of his career, Høffding composed in an idiom owing something both to Nielsen and to wider trends in European modernism – such as the clear-cut textures of Igor Stravinsky which exert an influence on the opera’s climactic orchestral Procession. While the ballet company of the Royal Theatre had sustained a rich culture of music for dance since the middle of the 19th century, the influence of Diaghilev’s Ballets russes and the composers who wrote for it such as Stravinsky and Dukas – may also be discerned in Knudåge Riisager’s score for Twelve with the Post. At this Andersen concert, Jensen conducted four movements, summarised by the journalist Børge Friis in his review for Berlingske Tidende: ‘Robust January, graceful May, August with its autumnal dance and the month of October, characterized by a hunting mood.’ RELEASE DATE: February 2022 CATALOGUE NUMBER: DACOCD 919 EAN: 5709499919002 Download BOOKLET (PDF) Related