KNUDÅGE RIISAGER
Piano Works
Christina Bjørkøe, piano

Knudåge Riisager, composer

About
Knudåge Riisager’s piano music is a kaleidoscopic world of its own. There are tongue-in-cheek pieces with a childlike feel side by side with serious modernism and warm late romanticism – all written with a unique feeling for the possible sonorities of the black and white keys.

Knudåge Riisager became the pioneer of the neoclassical style in Denmark. He had studied composition privately while taking his degree in political science. Riisager avoided the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, then in the grip of the legacy of Carl Nielsen, and instead went to Paris, where he met modern composers from all over such as Bartók, Satie and Stravinsky. This international influence helped to form his unmistakable, personal tone.

Today it is especially Riisager’s ballet music that is known – also far from Denmark. Riisager’s ballet music has accompanied productions at the Metropolitan and on many other great ballet and opera stages all over the world. And in the richly imaginative, charming piano pieces, which are now appearing for the first time on CD, it is not difficult to hear that it is a composer with a feeling for dance and drama who is behind them. Even in the smallest piano pieces the grace and narrative tone seem like a breath of air from the stage.

Reviews
Pianist Christina Bjørkøe's characterful keyboard mastery vivifies Riisager's piano works with dynamic surprises, sharp accents, strong rhythmic backbone, and keenly voiced polyphony.
(ClassicsToday.com - Read full review)

Christina Bjørkøe performs with force and clarity.
(Sequenza 21, USA)

Knudåge Riisager's piano music must be the Dacapo label's biggest find in a long time ... An amazingly beautiful record.
(Berlingske Tidende, Denmark)

The crisply articulated playing of Christina Bjørkøe is perfectly judged, so too the distinct but not overpowering surrounding acoustic of the recording ... This disc serves Riisager's cause well, since the music is skillfully and sensitively performed, the recorded sound is good and the general production standards are high.
(Classical Music on the Web, UK)

Bjørkøes rige klangfantasi og dristige gestiske udtryksfuldhed smelter sammen med en usvigeligt sikker forståelse af mekanikken og detaljernes betydning. (Politiken)

This is a comparatively short-playing anthology but attractive and not without fascination. Riisager's French-accents are strong and his music will appeal, without doubt, to anyone with a liking for Poulenc, and Ravel. Quite a discovery. Now lead the way to his orchestral music.
(Musicweb International)
Credits
Recorded at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music on 13 December, 2003, 31 January and 27 March, 2004
Recording producer: Morten Mogensen
Sound engineer: Morten Mogensen
Cover image: Denise Burt
Graphic design: www.elevator-design.dk
Dacapo Records acknowledge, with gratitude, the financial support of KODA’s Collective Blank Tape Remuneration and KODA’s National Funds. This CD has been recorded in cooperation with the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music.