Hi, I've been away from this place for some time. In the meantime I've visited wonderful Tallinn 🇪🇪 meeting with musicians, journalists, and musicologists. And my new book came out: A biography on Danish composer Peter Erasmus Lange-Müller - very well received so far! multivers.dk/product/p-e-...

Tonight: Dream team Susanna Mälkki & Isabelle Faust in Copenhagen with Danish National Symphony Orchestra: Dvorak Violin Concerto + Sibelius Symphony 6 and 7! www.drkoncerthuset.dk/kalender/202...

Arvo Pärt is 90 today! 🎶 Watch (and cry) how he was greeted this morning by family, singers, and the staff at the Arvo Party Centre. The music is a children's song he wrote in 1959, "I'm not just a kid anymore" www.instagram.com/reel/DOdH0c5...

"Deception", 1911. A French waltz. They just don't make sheet music like this anymore!

The annual Rued Langgaard festival in Ribe takes place this week (4-7. September). Thursday at 19.00 I'll be giving a short presentation of this year's guest composers, Tekla Griebel Wandall and Ludolf Nielsen. Two very fascinating artist from Langgaard's time in the early 1900s langgaardfestival.dk

Rodion Shchedrin: A brilliant composer and a very humorous person. I met him for a brief interview in 2008, and you really wanted to stay in his company. Unexpectedly, his wife, the legendary ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, also turned up - an astonishing couple!

The Léonie Sonning Music Prize, formerly awarded to Stravinsky, Messiaen, Shostakovich, Boulez, Pärt, Miles Davis & Bernstein, goes to Kirill Petrenko www.sonningmusik.dk/kirill-petre...

100 years ago, Jacob Gade's "Jealousy Tango" was premiered. It's the most performed piece of music ever written by a Dane! Tonight, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra is celebrating Gade and his tango, and a new book on Jacob Gade has just been published: multivers.dk/product/jaco...

A great loss! My favourite radio app has been blocked here in Denmark. BBC Sounds should remain available worldwide, showcasing why the BBC is still the gold standard in public service broadcasting.

Important new release: Works from the modern breakthrough of women in Danish music around 1900 - Hilda Sehested, Nancy Dalberg & Tekla Griebell. The scores newly edited and beautifully recorded. www.dacapo-records.dk/en/recording...

Carl Nielsen now has a delicious apple spirit named after him. Available from the Carl Nielsen museum in Odense (fun fact: subtitled "Bel Canto" after an odd drinking song he composed for a Copenhagen male choir)

This incredible video turned up earlier this week: Percy Grainger playing Grieg's "To Spring" in 1957 - the only audio film of Grainger playing the piano. And musically stunning it is! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp3Z...

Vila i frid käre Per ❤️🎶🌹🕯️Forever grateful for our friendship, and for the fantastic 8th Symphony. For me you remain the greatest symphonist of our time 💎🙏

Per Nørgård dies at 92. For generations he was the greatest and most influential Danish composer. A true visionary! www.dr.dk/nyheder/kult...

ach, Per Nørgård, grootse componist gestorven. Weet nog goed, begin jaren nul sprong hij na een uitvoering van een van zijn cellostukken dolenthousiast vanuit zijn stoel op het podium in een klein Londens theater om de uitvoerenden te feliciteren #RIP www.faz.net/aktuell/feui...

A very unsuccessful kalimba!

Herbert Blomstedt rehearsing with Danish National Orchestra as he has done regularly since 1956. In a few months, he turns 98.

Fredensborg Castle this evening, the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Denmark. Queen Margrethe's home. One guard. Peaceful indeed. We need more of this.

A second volume of Rued Langgaard's music in early pioneering recordings (1963-74). Just a decade after his death, the rediscovery started. Langgaard's widow Constance luckily witnessed the beginning of the revival. www.danacordbutik.dk/product_info...

AI, you can do better than this... Fanny and Felix didn't look like that at all.

In 1929, a young Danish soprano was invited to perform in private for Mussolini. I have unearthed her own detailed account of this unforgettable evening with the great and "enchanting" dictator - and traced her later destiny. www.jenscornelius.dk/den-danske-s...

One to watch! Yesterday Adrianna Kubica-Cypek won the Danish "Carl Prize" for best classical composition of 2024: "Printemps", a part of her choral cycle Saisons. Adrianna Kubica-Cypek (b. 1996) is Polish, but in recent years based in Copenhagen. www.adriannakubicacypekmusic.com

This is the most Estonian thing I have ever heard: "The Estonian Composers’ Union owns grave sites in the Forest Cemetery, which are reserved for members of the Estonian Composers’ Union and their spouses." www.helilooja.ee/en/estonian-...

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor Fabio Luisi to perform at the BBC Proms in August: Beethoven 9, Anna Clyne's The Years and the orchestra's new signature piece, Evening Land by Bent Sørensen (2017) www.bbc.co.uk/events/ezc9hn

Tonight: Exciting world premiere of Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen's Violin Concerto. Always a very personal composer with a big heart and a unique imagination. Simone Lamsma soloist, Otto Tausk conducting the Danish National Orchestra www.drkoncerthuset.dk/kalender/202...

Morgen „Antikrist“ an der Deutschen Oper Berlin! Das Buch kommt auf meine Kaufliste!

For the first time a book on Danish composer Rued Langgaard is published in an international language! A German translation of the recent (2024) Danish biography by the no. 1 Langgaard capacity Bendt Viinholt Nielsen. It's a must read - in both languages! www.wolke-verlag.de/musikbuecher...

Understandable confusion in the Vatican today - I tuned in to Radio Vaticana this morning after the announcement of Pope Francis' death and was surprised to hear jolly music (incl. the complete Carnival of the Animals!) for a full hour before the schedule was changed. www.vaticannews.va/en/epg.html

A strong recommendation of this insightful blog by Finnish music journalist Jari Kallio! @jarikallio.bsky.social jarijuhanikallio.wordpress.com

"Gothenborg Symphony Orchestra was my first love in the world of orchestras. The musicians were my idols. I knew them all by name." A wonderful homage by 97 year old Herbert Blomstedt - who is conducting the orchestra tonight. www.gso.se/2025/03/17/g...

I'm in St Matthew Church, Copenhagen, ready for the St John's Passion performed by Camerata Øresund & Det Unge Vokalensemble

My least favorite Beatles song (barring some of John Lennon's late horrors) has always been Taxman. Even in my teens I balked at the sound of wealthy young working-class men moaning about contributing to an equitable society. They should have seen it as a privilege.

Recommended - if you happen to be in South Korea! And if not, the music of Hans Abrahamsen is recommended anyway. www.wisemusicclassical.com/news/5046/Ha...

A 1966 West German record sleeve that gives a depressing answer to its own question. Happy Monday everyone!

Astonishingly generous awards to six major Danish musicians: Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen's Prize 2025 go to composers Kirstine Lindemann, Signe Lykke & Bára Gísladóttir and to accordionist Bjarke Mogensen, recorder virtuoso Michala Petri & bass singer Stephen Milling. 1 million DKK each.

Sutton Hoo helmet may actually come from Denmark, archaeologist suggests

Tonight: A delightful evening at the Royal Danish Ballet performing the classic Don Quixote. Tutus, toreadors and even some flying guitars. After the final bow, radiant ballerina Silvia Selvina was appointed Solo Dancer on stage in front of the audience kglteater.dk/det-sker/sas...

Congratulations to Greenland’s new government and Premier-elect Jens-Frederik Nielsen. You deserve partners who respect you and treat you as equals. And the European Union is proud to be such a partner for you.

I wasn't aware that conductor Fabio Luisi is also an excellent blogger, sharing his personal views in a very honest way www.fabioluisi.com/thoughts/

Arvo Pärt news: A very exciting collaboration between Concerto Copenhagen - a baroque orchestra on period instruments - and renowned Pärt experts Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and conductor Tonu Kaljuste. New Pärt album out on Berlin Classics. www.epcc.ee/en/2025/03/a...

A real treat tonight: Ein Heldenleben + Beethoven piano concerto no. 1, feat. Piotr Anderszewski. Fabio Luisi conducting. www.drkoncerthuset.dk/kalender/202...

BREAKING: Pianist András Schiff cancels all his US engagements for 2025-26 in response to "the recent and unprecedented political changes in the United States." "Some people might say, 'just shut up and play.' I cannot, in good conscience, do that." www.kirshbaumassociates.com/agency.php?v...

The new Carl Nielsen biography (2024) written by a trio of Copenhagen scholars is published today in English. It's by far the most exhaustive book on Carl Nielsen - don't hesitate if you're into this unique composer or Danish/Nordic music as such. unipress.dk/udgivelser/c...

Tonight: A very enjoyable performance by Thomas Ehnco in Gershwin's Concerto in F, incl lots of improv. Encore: A virtuoso mashup of La ci darem la mano & Bach's C minor prelude from Welltempered Klavier book 1. I feel the need of an Ehnco solo recital. www.drkoncerthuset.dk/kalender/202...

A masterwork from 1913, published for the first time: Ludolf Nielsen's Symphony no. 3 is one of the greatest Romantic symphonies from Scandinavia. Beautifully recorded by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in 1999, but not performed in concert since 1943. repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/en/product/n...

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Sofia Gubaidulina on March 13, 2025. She was regarded as the grande dame of contemporary music and the most significant Russian composer of our time. © Bodil Maroni Jensen #SofiaGubaidulina

One more chief conductor appointment: The talented Christian Øland is chosen by Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester (bravely entitled "Danish Philharmonic Orchestra" in English). Øland is trained in Finland and definitely is one to watch. sdjsymfoni.dk/2025/03/10/o...

New chief conductor of the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra: Holly Hyun Choe. I remember her from the Malko Competition in Copenhagen 2021. Great choice! www.nrk.no/kork/choe-ny...

Early Danish radio listeners, 1927. A century later, strong public service media are as important as ever. "The inform the public, keep those in power accountable, create a platform for debate, and tell stories that contribute to a common culture." www.ebu.ch/publications...

In these dark times: A satisfying, calming photo taken yesterday of Finland's presidential couple skiing with the King and Queen of Denmark. A new defence agreement between the two nations was signed the same day.