HERMAN D. KOPPEL
Orchestral Works Vol. 4
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra
Nina Kavtaradze, piano

Herman D. Koppel, composer

Moshe Atzmon, conductor

About
The candle on the CD cover of the concluding Volume in Dacapo's Koppel series hints at the Danish tradition of placing a candle in the window every year on the day of the Danish liberation from the German occupation during World War II. Indeed, much of Herman D. Koppel’s life, both private and artistic, was strongly marked by the War. The works on the new CD in Dacapo’s Koppel series are from the post-war years, and each in its own way has its origins in the War and its consequences.

Koppel’s Fifth Symphony took on symbolic significance during the post-war rebuilding of Copenhagen: the old Tivoli Concert Hall had been blown up in reprisals against the Danish resistance movement, and for the inauguration of the new, modern hall a composers’ competition was held, which Herman D. Koppel won with his Fifth Symphony which was to become the most frequently played of Koppel’s orchestral works. The style is more serene, both tonally and contrapuntally, than that of the works from the war years, and the strong fronts that are drawn up in the work meet and are reconciled in a final apotheosis.

The elevated tone already hinted at in Herman D. Koppel’s Fifth Symphony comes to full fruition in his Third Piano Concerto from 1948. After the war Koppel had the urge to write – and perform – a virtuosic, appealing work for piano and orchestra; in the composer’s own words, ”a truly concertante piece that is to a certain extent outward-looking, but which must in no way be superficial.”.

From the beginning, the Third Piano Concerto enjoyed a great success in the Danish concert halls. The music has flashes of Neoclassical and ‘mechanical’ elements from Stravinsky and Prokofiev, Slavic melody as in Bartók and freethinking as in Carl Nielsen.

Very few pianists after Koppel himself have dared to take on his Third Piano Concerto because of its daunting technical challenges. Now the Russian-trained but Danish-based Nina Kavtaradze has ventured into Koppel’s brilliant pianistic universe. This recording is at the same time Nina Kavtaradze’s debut on Dacapo.

Reviews
Danish Radio P2 Price - DMA Classical 2004

The Aalborgians under Moshe Atzmon offer stupendously secure and fluent readings of these now-classic Danish scores. An essential contribution to the growing modern Danish discography.
(Fanfare Magazine)

This is a very rewarding disc, full of music that deserves the attention of music lovers everywhere. (Classics Today)

Das dritte Klavierkonzert ist eine der beliebtesten Kreationen aus Koppels Feder, die, wenn sie obendrein so flott und beschwingt vorgetragen wird wie in der hier vorliegenden Einspielung, durchaus ein Hit sein könnte.
(Klassik Heute, Germany)

The Third Piano Concerto is a very entertaining work and deserves much greater exposure and popularity. If you like the Prokofiev concertos and the Shostakovich pair you owe it to yourself to hear this. It is brilliantly despatched by all concerned: Gershwin's Rhapsody meets Kodaly's Peacock! (Classical Music on the Web)

Credits
Recorded at Symfonien, Aalborg, 22-24 August 2000 and 20-21 June 2003
Recording producer: Henrik Sleiborg
Sound engineer: Knud Esmarch
Editing engineers: Knud Esmarch and Henrik Sleiborg
Graphic design: Elevator
Publishers: Samfundet til Udgivelse af Dansk Musik and EMI Music Publishing (Piano Concerto)

Dacapo Records acknowledge, with gratitude, the financial support of Sonning-Fonden
This CD has been recorded in cooperation with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR)