Danmark Nu cover image / credit DR
Danmark Nu focuses on Danish music and artists, looking at projects, musicians, concerts, and composers. Several composers have been interviewed by the programme hosts Max Fage-Pedersen and Rie Koch during the past two months, and Edition·S works have been presented and played on the DR P2 programme.
Line Tjørnhøj was interviewed on 14 May about her coming opera LUFT, commissioned by the Royal Theatre, which she is currently working on. Supplementing the interview, parts of her pieces Sabat Mater (2009), Vox Reportage (2013–2014), and her latest piece for girls’ choir Hånden på Hjertet (2019) was played. Closing the episode with a focus on the light Nordic summer evenings, Christian Winther Christensen’s Nachtmusik (2011) and Allan Gravgaard Madsen’s Nachtmusik (2019) were on at the end of the programme. Listen here
Jesper Koch was interviewed 11 May about composing bright pieces during darker corona times. The 2nd and 3rd movements of his cello concerto Dreamscapes (2005-2007) were played. The concerto has been released by Dacapo Records, and can be listened to here. The programme audio is no longer available, but a list of the pieces played can be viewed here.
Allan Gravgaard Madsen was also mentioned 3 June in relation to P2 and Klang Festival’s radio concert 2 June where his SUITE (2018) was played. And at the end of the programme, Nachtmusik (2019) was played again. The concerto has been released by Dacapo Records and can be accessed here. Listen to the programme.
On 21 May, Nicolai Worsaae was invited to talk about his more uncompromising continental approach to composing as well as his inspiration with Helmut Lachenmann and punk music. His piece Wesenheit ab Wesenheit (2011), based on poems by the former DDR-spy Jörg Meyer, was played, followed by the composer’s story about the origin of the piece. Listen to the programme.
Bára Gísladóttir was interviewed 12 May about her relationship to the double bass and her piece Mass for Some was played. Later on, Knudåge Riisager’s work and approach to his Violin Concerto, op. 54 (1951) was mentioned and described as “a special concert, since the 1st movement is more exploratory and meditative ...”. Riisager was also mentioned on the programme 1 June in relation to his inspiration with early twentieth-century French music. But in spite of the French inspirations, the piece Divertimento Op. 9 (2015) was also said to “...taste Danish, to taste like birch ...”. Listen here
On 1 June, Li-Ying Wu was presented with Shadows (2013), her double concerto for sheng, accordion, and sinfonietta.
Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen’s trio piece Divertimento as well as his Symphony no. 3 (2010) were played 11 June, in relation to works inspired by masses of people.
Finally, Jexper Holmen’s piece Laughing Out Loud Inhaling the SCARLET SPLEEN (2004) for accordion was mentioned as a simple piece said to go against the common complaint of new music being too complex. Listen here.