DANISH MUSIC FOR BRASS 5
DANISH MUSIC FOR BRASS
Is a series of recordings with brass players from the Royal Danish Orchestra
as chamber music players or soloists
MUSIC FOR TRUMPET
PLAYED BY KETIL CHRISTENSEN
HILDA SEHESTED : SEPTET for CORNET, PIANO AND STRINGS
HILDA SEHESTED : SUITE FOR TRUMPET and PIANO
THORVALD HANSEN: WORKS FOR TRUMPET and PIANO
SONATE, ROMANCE, SCHERZO and CONCERT WALTZ
JAKOB GADE: TANGO JALOUISIE
AKSEL JØRGENSEN:
CAPRICE ORIENTALE for TRUMPET and PIANO
NIELS VIGGO BENTZON:
TRIO for TRUMPET, HORN and TROMBONE
Ketil Christensen – Trumpet, Jørgen Andersen and Anne Øland – Piano, Johannes Søe Hansen
and Sarah Mc McClleland – Violin, Henrik Olsen – Viola, EeroVoitk – cello, Dariusz Mizera – Double bass
Lasse Mauritzen – Horn, Torbjörn Kroon – trombone
THE ROYAL DANISH ORCHESTRA
The Royal Danish Orchestra’s emblem, the Royal Trumpeter Corps. Engraving from 1583. The Royal Danish Orchestra is the the world’s oldest orchestral institution. It started out 1448 as a trumpeter corps, and today it is an opera and symphony orchestra based at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen.
JØRGEN ANDERSEN ( 1922 – 1991 ) and KETIL CHRISTENSEN (1952-)
Ketil Christensen studied at The Royal Danish Academy of Music with Kurt Petersen and became only 19 years old principal trumpet in The Royal Danish Orchestra. Co-founder of The Royal danish Orchestra Brass Ensemble and member of the chamber orchestra Collegium Musicum, Copenhagen. Has made many recordings and engagements as soloist. in 1980 he won a prize at the international competition for soloists in Munich and has later been a member of the jury at the same competition in 2018. Has been teaching trumpet at The royal Danish Academy of Music. The recipient of the Gade Scholarship and Gladsaxe Music Award.
Jørgen Andersen studied with Alexander Stoffregen. Had his debut 1952 at the large hall of the Odd Fellow Palace in Copenhagen. Beside a large number of concerts he was pianist at the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen from 1967 – 1989.
HILDA SEHESTED (1881-1947)
Photo from The Danish National Museum
As a young girl Hilda Sehested studied piano with C.F.E. Horneman and composition with Orla Rosenhoff. Since she wished to compose chamber music, she had to learn a string instrument and began to have viola lessons. Later she also studied the organ. Among her friends who studied with Orla Rosenhoff was Carl Nielsen and she was one of his warmest admirers and belonged to his circle. Already in 1894 she wrote to her sister in law that she has seen some piano pieces by Carl Nielsen “which to be honest impressed me. This little man would appear to be a big little man”. In his diary Carl Nielsen writes that on the 10th of September he played for some friends “the Symphony, which surprised more than it pleased most of those present. Miss Sehested understood me best”. Hilda Sehested had the year before written to her niece: “Carl Nielsen has something of the spirit of the old masters”. Hilda enjoyed to compose for untraditional instruments, and in 1904 she was “exploring” the cornet. She wrote to a friend: “The cornet can get you to do anything”. The first result was “Suite for Cornet or Trumpet and piano, dedicated to the principal trumpet in The Royal Danish Orchestra Thorvald Hansen. In 1912 the work was reviewed in a German military music periodical, and among other things the following was written: A composition for cornet by a woman is a rarity. And yet this suite is one of the most outstanding works of its kind with regard to invention, development and craftsmanship —- the contrapuntal work betraying the hand of a master”. The suite was first performed in March 1905 at the Chamber Music Society by Thorvald Hansen. Hilda Sehested’s Septet is written for the same instruments, trumpet, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass and piano, as used by Saint Saens in his Septet.
THORVALD HANSEN (1847-1915)
THORVALD HANSEN came from The Danish Lifeguard Band to The Royal Danish Orchestra where he was principal trumpet 1884 – 1915. He was regarded the most prominent trumpet and cornet player at his time – maybe the most prominent brass player in Scandinavia. He was the first trumpet teacher at The Royal Danish Academy of Music, and acted as organist substitute in our Lady’s Church (Copenhagen Cathedral). Futhermore he was vice conductor and played Viola in the Tivoli Garden Symphony Orchestra – and then he was a composer. All his compositions for cornet/trumpet and piano are dedicated to count W. Schultz, who donated the cornet on which he played all the solos in the music for the Bournonville Ballets. He is particularly famous for his Sonata (published 1911), his Concert Waltz and his Scherzo for cornet/trumpet and piano. Earlier his Sonata was test piece for auditions to The Royal Danish Orchestra – today all his pieces are performed worldwide.
Principal trombone in The royal Danish Orchestra Anton Hansen (1877-1947) writes in his memoirs about Thorvald Hansen: “Thorvald Hansen was unique. To hear him perform the various themes in, for example, Wagner’s operas was a pleasure, performed so wonderfully that one was always delighted with them. This artist had a phenomenal embouchure; there was not the slightest hint of effort to look at his face, although he played with full power. Hardly anyone, be it here or abroad, has had such a beautiful tone and he never exaggerated a forte or fortissimo.
The loss for The royal Danish Orchestra when Thorvald Hansen died has never been completely replaced. – His successor Lauritz Sørensen, who for many years was second trumpet player in the orchestra, was a very skilled musician, and when he possessed a unique imitation talent, he had understood to acquire almost all the good qualities of the predecessor.
TRUMPET PLAYER LAURIDS SØRENSEN IN THE FILM-RECORDING FROM 1923
THIS LINK:
– shows a recording from 1923 with the use of a special system for reproduction of sound in films developed by Danish Engineers Aksel Petersen and Arnold Poulsen. Here the audio sound was recorded separately and the system was used for the first Danish sound feature films at Nordisk Film. At the minute 3:06, there is a recording of the principal trumpet player in the royal Danish Orchestra Lauritz Sørensen.
JAKOB GADE (1879-1963)
Jacob Gade was a high-profile composer, an innovator in film music and a popular Danish musician and personality. He was able to put Danish film music on the world map. At the age of 16 Jacob Gade left his home town Vejle to seek his fortune in Copenhagen. With experience as a local folk musician in his father’s band Jakob was able both to compose and to play the violin with great talent, and that was enough to get him the job as conductor at some of the biggest restaurants and theaters in Copenhagen. It was during his work as conductor at the Palads Cinema that Jacob Gade really made his name on the international music scene. In this period he wrote the TANGO JALOUSIE in 1925. The tango was played for the first time at the Copenhagen premiere of the film Don Q, Son of Zorro. The annual Performing Rights Society statements show Tango Jalousie to be one of the most often played tunes in the world and the most frequently performed piece of Danish music,
AKSEL JØRGENSEN (1881-1947)
AKSEL JØRGENSEN was principal viola in the Royal Danish Orchestra from 1921 and a well known chamber musician.The Caprice Orientale was written for Erik Fritzner, the principal trumpet in The Royal Danish Orchestra in the 30s and the 40s.
ERIK FRITZNER (19019-1972)
NIELS VIGGO BENTZON (1919-2000)
Niels Viggo Bentzon is perhaps the most wide-ranging Danish composer in the 20th century. His immense output of more than 600 opuses includes virtually every imaginable genre. The main emphasis is on symphonic music and music for Bentzon’s own instrument, the piano. In his enduring career as both composer and pianist there is hardly a modern musical style, trend or compositional technique he has not challenged and turned into his own. His Trio for trumpet, horn and trombone was published in 1964 at the Wilhelm Hansen company and can be seen as a counterpoint to Francis Poulenc’s trio for the same instruments.
