MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

CD REVIEW



Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively AmazonUK   AmazonUS


 

 

Journey - Contemporary Danish Works
Palle MIKKELBORG (b. 1941)
Everything Matters (1988) [28:50]
Herman D KOPPEL (1908–1998)
Duo for violin and guitar, op.116 (1987) [8:37]
Jørgen JERSILD (1913–2004)
10 Impromptu (1987) [12:55]
Vagn HOLMBOE (1909–1996)
Duo Concertato, op.167 (1987) [8:38]
Kim Sjøgren (violin); Lars Hanibal (guitar)
rec. SB Studio, Valby, June 1988 (Mikkelborg only); Church of the Royal Castle, Fredensborg, August 1988. DDD
DA CAPO 8.226902 [59:10]

Twenty-five separate movements for violin and guitar might seem a bit of a challenge but it’s nothing of the sort when the music is as enjoyable and varied as it is in these four works. 

Sjøgren and Hanibal met when students at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Århus and from 1980 to 1994 performed as Duo Concertante, giving over 1,000 concerts and making recordings and radio and TV appearances. All the works on this disk were commissioned by them so they have the authority of composer-supervised performances. 

Palle Mikkelborg is a major figure in jazz, having played with the Gil Evans Big Band, George Russel Big Band as well as with Jan Gabarek and Gary Peacock. His output is varied, to say the least, ranging from works for orchestra and choir to Aura, which was recorded by Miles Davis in 1984. Everything Matters is a nine movements set of pieces which range from the serious to the humorous. There’s the smallest, and quite discreet, use of electronics and pre-recorded sounds - this latter of children playing - which add to the atmosphere of the music. It sounds as if the duo is actually performing directly to the children. At nearly half an hour this work doesn’t seem a moment too long and it’s very inventive, with its varied moods and sonorities. 

Herman D Koppel was a pupil of Carl Nielsen who wrote in all genres, and as a performer was a passionate advocate for Nielsen’s piano music; he made two valuable recordings of the complete works. His Duo is a serious work in three short movements. The language is terse and aphoristic, so fleeting are some of the ideas, and this is, probably, the most thought-provoking of all the works on this disk. 

Jersild studied with, amongst others, Albert Roussel and the French influence can be seen in some of his works. His output wasn’t large but we should be grateful for what there is. These 10 Impromptu are true miniatures - half of them play for less than 60 seconds - and they are serious and fun, by turns, and most enjoyable. 

It’s always good to welcome any music by Vagn Holmboe, not just because he was a fine composer, but because he was a friend of mine. It has been said that Holmboe never wrote any light music, and this is true - there’s no Tam O’Shanter Overture, for instance - but some of his works are lighter than others. This Duo Concertato is a case in point. Although the outward appearance is of a serious composition in three movements, the outer, fast, ones are filled with fun and they surround a heart of gold. Truly a portrait of the man himself. I loved him and miss him. 

Although it is not so stated, this must be a re-issue of a Danish EMI LP (7496791) which was issued in about 1989. The sound on that LP was excellent and the re-mastering for this CD is superb. There is a feeling of space in the acoustic and the two players are well balanced. The notes don’t tell us anything about the works heard, but do give a potted biography of each composer and performer, complete with photograph, and there’s lots of photographs of dancers in soft focus. 

A super disk and well worth investigating.

Bob Briggs

 

 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.