PELLE GUDMUNDSEN-HOLMGREEN
Organ Music
Eva Feldbæk, organ

Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, composer

About
As the composer Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen turns 70, we celebrate him with a striking new release. The organist Eva Feldbæk has taken on one of the composer’s earlier works and challenged him to write new ones. The result is a record of organ works that span a period of over 25 years: from Mirror III from 1974 to Archaic Procession and Cabinet of Mirrors from this year. They mark a notable process of development in the work of a composer who has always set himself up in opposition to new dominant trends and gospels. Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen has remained his own man, and that is the spirit that permeates this release. In 1999 Eva Feldbæk persuaded him to revive his old interest in composing for the organ, but now without the use of ‘iron blocks and extra stopping assistants’ as in the earlier pieces. This led to a whole series of compositions where the experienced composer expresses himself in new, surprising ways - one of the pieces even has its roots in J.S. Bach’s Kunst der Fuge.

Reviews
Eva Feldbæk and her assistants perform superbly and capture extremely well the original spirit of the music.
(Classical Music Web)

Credits
Recorded in Vestkirken, Ballerup, on 7-8 June and 22-23 September 2002
Recording producer: Finn Kaufmanas
Sound engineer: Finn Kaufmanas
Registration: Christian Tilma
Assistant in Mirror III: Christian Tilma
Assistants in Cabinet of Mirrors: Karina Agerbo, Niels Danielsen, Carsten Popp and Christian Tilma

Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen, member of KODA, Denmark

Cover picture: Jørn Larsen: "Avant" (1989)

Dacapo Records acknowledge with gratitude the financial support of Danish Organists’ Association, Danish Composers’ Society/KODA’s Funds for Social and Cultural Purposes and Magister Jürgen Balzers Fond