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New album presents the contrasting chamber music of Kasper Rofelt

New album presents the contrasting chamber music of Kasper Rofelt

On 22 April, the new album Dichotomy will be released, presenting new chamber music by Kasper Rofelt recorded by the Danish Chamber Players. 

New release
28 March 2022

Opposition and contrast are key words to the aesthetics of the Danish composer Kasper Rofelt. On 22 April the aptly-named portrait album Dichotomy with new chamber music by Rofelt will be released, referring both to the title work of the album and the musical techniques that can be heard across the recording. 

Combining the incompatible

The new album presents world premiere recordings of seven new works composed between 2012 and 2020. The album is recorded by the Danish Chamber Players, who also commissioned and gave the first performance of the title work Dichotomy in 2021.

The challenge of combining contrasting and even incompatible materials is central to Kasper Rofelt. In the title work, the composer is juxtaposing contrasting musical techniques on several different levels, which for example can be heard in the contrasts between the playful, lyrical first movement and a rhythmically energetic second one.

An imagined meeting

The works of Kasper Rofelt is characterized by a great musical creativity and imagination, which can be heard in the great variety of musical characters and idioms on the album. An example is his use of deliberately restricted materials, which are continuosly repeated.

Sérénade pour Ionesco is the only work on the album which refers to an extra-musical source of inspiration. It's inspired by the strange, absurdist juxtapositions of the Romanian-French playwright Eugène Ionesco. The harp plays a central role in the work, but is absurdly contrasted by the squeaks of dog toys and knocking on the string instruments, and in the fourth movement a frustrated and imagined meeting is taking place between Ludwig van Beethoven and Gustav Mahler.

Release concert

The release of Dichotomy is to be celebrated with a release concert on Wednesday 20 April at 17.00 in Musikhuset København at Vesterbrogade 59, where the ensemble and conductor Anne Marie Granau will perform two works from the new album. The concert will be introduced by a conversation between composer Kasper Rofelt and the artistic adviser of the ensemble, Toke Lund Christiansen. Read more and reserve a free ticket here.  

Kasper Rofelt and the Danish Chamber Players

Kasper Rofelt (b. 1982) has studied composition with Bent Sørensen, Niels Rosing-Schow and Per Nørgård. He has written works for many different types of instrumental configuration and in many genres, including solo works, works for symphony orchestra and music for children.

The Danish Chamber Players, based in the modern art and music house KUMUS at the Fuglsang Manor on Lolland, are one of the five Danish ensembles which between them provide a more substantial presence for professional classical music in otherwise sparsely covered areas of  Denmark. The ensemble was founded in 1991 and consists of eight highprofile chamber musicians in a unique instrumental composition: three string players, three wind players, piano and harp.

Kasper Rofelt and the Danish Chamber Players have released several recordings at Dacapo Records.
  • Kasper Rofelt

    Dichotomy

  • Kasper Rofelt

    The song I'll never sing - Works for Accordion

  • Martin Lohse

    Collage de temps

  • Bo Lundby-Jæger

    Chamber Music and Songs

  • Lars Hegaard

    Chamber Music

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