AXEL BORUP-JØRGENSEN (1924-2012): Sommen Suite for String Orchestra, Op. 24, PELLE GUDMUNDSEN-HOLMGREEN (b.1932): Music for 13 Strings, THOMAS CLAUSEN (b.1949): Concertino for Recorder and Strings, MOGENS CHRISTENSEN (b.1955): Nordic Summer Scherzo for Descant Recorder and Strings, BENT SØRENSEN (b.1958): Whispering for Recorder and Strings, SUNLEIF RASMUSSEN (b.1961): Winter Echoes for Recorder and 13 Solo Strings.

Description: This CD is the result of a project to commission new works in memory of Borup-Jørgensen from his composer friends, with the option of including the recorder, a favorite instrument of his (see 02P081). The Sørensen begins with pained string tones in long note values, accompanying mournful multiphonic moans from the recorder. A gentle little folk-like tune then emerges against a backdrop of mysterious nature sounds, and the piece gradually recedes into silence. Gudmundsen-Holmgreen's work is an exercise in dense textures, often in clusters or extended techniques, out of which solemn, static chords suddenly coalesce, only to evaporate. The central section is a brusque, angry, rather Shostakovich-like passage which is interrupted, then replaced by an attempt at a melody, a climax in pounding rhythms and a slow, elegiac winding down. Rasmussen's piece uses different recorders, from bass to sopranino, successively in a journey from darkness to light, in energetic overlapping phrases that gradually calm as the pitch center of the work rises, finally leaving the soloist meditating alone in the highest register. The Christensen consists of nature-sounds, ranging from rough noise textures to imitative birdsong from the recorder to more conventional impressionistic or Sibelian melodic fragments. Clausen's Concertino is something of an odd man out here, being tonal and neoclassical, and incorporating deliberately recognizable references to Bach, Mozart and Grieg. The disc concludes with a relatively early orchestral suite by Borup-Jørgensen himself, in five brief movements inspired by natural scenes in different moods at different times of day. Color and atmosphere are of paramount importance here; the music is gestural, vividly evocative in organic, freely structured forms. Michala Petri (recorder), Lapland Chamber Orchestra; Clemens Schuldt.