Herman D. Koppel (1908-1998) is an almost mythical figure in Danish musical life as the patriarch of a whole musical dynasty, an important pianist and a hard-working composer. Now Dacapo Records is launching the series named the Herman D. Koppel Edition featuring piano works and songs, recorded and organised by pianist Christian Westergaard. The first three volumes in the series featuring piano works is released digitally on 24 May.
Find the scores for a great selection of Koppel's pieces for piano here, and listen to the recordings via the links below.
Herman D. Koppel Edition, Vol. 1 - Piano Sonatas
Herman D. Koppel Edition, Vol. 2 - Piano Variations
Herman D. Koppel Edition, Vol. 3 - Piano Suites
The Pianist-Composer
Herman D. Koppel was the oldest son of a Polish-Jewish couple who moved to Copenhagen in the beginning of the 20th century. Though they didn't play themselves, they purchased a piano for their first-born, which turned out to be a guiding thread in his life. Koppel became one of the greatest Danish musical personalities of the 20th century as a composer, pianist and teacher and the patriarch of a Danish musical dynasty.
Despite his position in the Danish music scene, parts of Koppel's output have been forgotten. In 2008, when Koppel would have turned 100, pianist Christian Westergaard set out to celebrate the composer with a series of song concerts: ‘That's when I realised that Koppel's songs were in fact one of the most important Danish contributions to the genre, both in quantity, but also in quality and diversity,’ says Westergaard. It wasn't long before he realised that there was also a similarly large body of piano works that not many people know or play.’
The story of the Herman D. Koppel phenomenon is, for better or worse, characterised by his great versatility. ‘In fact, I could imagine that for this reason he might be forgotten, because who should Herman D. Koppel really be remembered as? Is it for the whole myth of the Koppel family, is it as a pianist, or is it as a composer or as everything?’, says Christian Westergaard.
Read Dacapo Records' interview with Christian Westergaard here.
First recordings set the music free
Koppel was a leading representative of the contemporary neoclassical modernism inspired by Carl Nielsen, Barók and Stravinsky among others but also jazz. He was active as a composer from the late 1920s all the way to the 1990s and his production culminated in the 1950-60s, when he wrote seven symphonies, oratorios and major piano works. In the last period of his career he wrote many smaller piano works for his grandchildren, but also the 15 Miniatures, which Westergaard considers to be one of Koppel's main works, but also in contemporary Danish piano music in general.
Many of Koppel's piano works have until now only existed in recordings featuring the composer himself. 'It is an amazing historical document and an incredibly valuable source. But it is also very authoritative and may have stopped others from recording it,’ explains Christian Westergaard. ‘Of course, I want to present my take, but I also really want to set it free so that others can discover it and leave their mark on it.’