SACDs - Riisager

Knudåge Riisager was a pioneer of the Neo-Classical style in Danish music. This re-release of the previously acclaimed CD on Dacapo (no longer available), has been given a new lease of life in outstanding SACD sound quality.

Lively and inventive, the music on this disc spans the years 1933-1940 and shows Riisager both as a composer inspired by the Neo-Baroque and as an exponent of a decidedly Danish sound.

“This will be a must for brass aficionados” International Record Review on its original release

“Benzin is a joke,” said the Danish composer Knudåge Riisager (1897-1974) of the work he created for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1928 along with his friend, the popular cartoonist known as “Storm P.” A dubious joke, however, as the ballet was taken off the bill after just three performances. It is possible that the stage design was too unorthodox, or the plot too thin. Alternatively, perhaps Riisager’s music was quite simply too beautiful to be funny. With this world première recording of the music, at any rate, it is clear that Riisager’s unique talent for colourful, intelligent orchestration evokes the magic of 20th-century orchestral music at its very best.

Riisager was a violin player himself and composed for the instrument throughout his career. This collection of his violin music demonstrates the composer's fascinating musical development, featuring student works as well as mature compositions with challenging harmonies in charming neo-Baroque forms.

Johannes Søe Hansen trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and is Concertmaster of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 1992.