Riisager’s Qarrtsiluni
Op.36 and Trumpet Concertino
Op.29 are probably the pieces
for which he is best remembered outside
Denmark but there is much more than
that. His other works include a number
of ballet scores such as Etudes
(after Czerny) and Slaraffenland
Op.33 (two suites from the latter
are available on DaCapo 8.224082, that
I yet to hear). There are some fine
piano works including the substantial
Piano Sonata Op.22 available
on DaCapo 8.226004 reviewed
here by Rob Barnett a few months
ago. By the way, this is the fifth all-Riisager
release from DaCapo.
"Qarrtsiluni"
is a word in Eskimo language meaning
"expectant stillness". The
work opens with a short dissonant call
to arms. This is immediately followed
by a soft ostinato supporting short,
tense figures from high woodwinds regularly
restated as a ritornello throughout
the piece. The flute intones a short
tune, actually an original Greenland
folk tune. From this rather limited
and subdued basic material, the music
unfolds as one long crescendo, that
had some commentators comparing Qarrtsiluni
to Ravel’s Bolero; However
it really has very little in common
with Ravel’s work. Its allegiance is
to Stravinsky’s Rite of
Spring. The music is brutal
and aggressive at times, although a
far cry from Stravinsky’s earth-shaking
pagan ritual. It is all rather splendid,
often impressive and is superbly scored.
Qarrtsiluni
was originally conceived as a symphonic
movement, but was regularly used as
a ballet score, whereas Månerenen
("Moon Reindeer") was written
as a proper ballet score. It is based
on a Lapp tale by Mirjami Kousmanen.
It is a tale of unrequited love, in
which magic plays an important part.
It ends with death. A Lapp girl Aili
loves Nilas who prefers another girl.
In dismay she turns to the sorcerer
Nåiden who lures her into his
circle of reindeers, actually enchanted
women under his spell. Aili, too, is
metamorphosed into a beautiful white
reindeer. She wants to free herself
from Nåiden’s spell, but the sorcerer
throws her into a deep gorge. Every
night, the white reindeer lures young
men into the abyss, whereas by daytime
she is human again, but with much erotic
charisma. Nilas falls in love with her,
realises her dual nature and tries to
protect her. It is all to no avail,
for she still has to lure him into the
gorge. Nilas finally kills the white
reindeer, and by so doing releases her
from the spell while making their love
impossible. This tale reminds me of
a Finnish film for which the late Einar
Englund composed a very fine score.
Now, the music. The
style is neo-classical with motifs and
rhythms from Lapp music woven into the
fabric, without making it "folkloristically
authentic". These folk-inflected
elements add colour. The music is superbly
scored and attractive. This is a very
fine score, with many felicitous touches
and a remarkable wealth of melodic invention.
It nevertheless works splendidly as
a piece of music on its own right.
These colourful scores
get beautifully prepared and committed
readings that make this recent release
a pure joy from first to last.
Hubert Culot
Aarhus Symphony Orchestra; Bo Holten 
