COMPOSERS: Nielsen
LABELS: Dacapo
WORKS: Piano Music for Young and Old, Op. 53; Symphonic Suite, Op. 8; The Luciferian Suite, Op. 45
PERFORMER: Herman D Koppel (piano)
CATALOGUE NO: 8.224095-96 Reissue (1981)
A distinguished composer whose work deserves greater exposure here, Herman D Koppel was an early champion of Nielsen’s piano music. His death last year robs us of a direct link with the composer to whom he played his piano pieces in 1930. He recorded the Chaconne and the Theme and Variations as early as 1940, and then again in 1952 along with the most important of the other works. The present set was made in the early Eighties when he was in his mid-seventies, and had lost some of his earlier command of keyboard colour and subtlety of sonority. The recording is close and shallow: Andsnes (Virgin), offering the key works on a single disc in masterly performances, is the one to have. Robert Layton
Nielsen: Piano Music for Young and Old, Op. 53; Symphonic Suite, Op. 8; The Luciferian Suite, Op. 45
A distinguished composer whose work deserves greater exposure here, Herman D Koppel was an early champion of Nielsen’s piano music. His death last year robs us of a direct link with the composer to whom he played his piano pieces in 1930. He recorded the Chaconne and the Theme and Variations as early as 1940, and then again in 1952 along with the most important of the other works. The present set was made in the early Eighties when he was in his mid-seventies, and had lost some of his earlier command of keyboard colour and subtlety of sonority.
Our rating
2
Published: January 20, 2012 at 3:10 pm