Future releases

The music from the Baltic region in the latter half of the 17th century is characterized by fearless innovation and bubbling creativity. Here, a glimpse into the sacred solo-cantata and chamber music of this period is presented by bass-baritone Jakob Bloch Jespersen and Concerto Copenhagen under the direction of Lars Ulrik Mortensen.

Unlike many of his radical new music colleagues, Karl Aage Rasmussen (b. 1947) always had a great affection for older music, especially that of the Italian Baroque era. In this new programme of solo concertos by Rasmussen, he extends his musical explorations of the solo concerto focusing on the relationship between the individual and the community – an archetypal disparity that for centuries has lent the genre a special fascination for composers and audiences alike.

With HĪBER, her debut release for Dacapo, the 30-year-old Icelandic composer and double bassist Bára Gísladóttir has created an album that is coloured by a distinct dark atmosphere, emphasizing a menacing and distorted bass scenery as presented by herself in an intimate solo setting. In HĪBER, a unified and uncompromising soundscape unfolds - one where sounds of different origin join textures and techniques and merge into a single aural organism that falls outside any usual category or label. The title, HĪBER, is a reference to hibernation and winter.

Music created by veteran Danish composer and Hammond organ player Anders Koppel has been the mainstay of several successful Dacapo releases over the past years. Now, Still Life joins them as a documentation of a new endeavour of his, a vibrant music-making in duo with Danish master cellist Henrik Dam Thomsen, whose far-reaching musical creativity proves a fine match for Koppel’s own. Still Life is a meeting of kindred spirits – yielding 15 impressions of life as captured in a dimly lit night.

The last stage on a long journey, here is the third and final instalment of a warmly received Langgaard cycle undertaken by violinist Gunvor Sihm and pianist Berit Johansen Tange. The present volume includes the violin sonatas nos. 2 and 3 – highly accomplished works with strong individual features – and two single-movement pieces composed by Langgaard the precocious teenager: the charming Aubade written on a summer holiday with his parents, and the dark-coloured Night Watchman’s Song.

Treason, desire and murder - served on a silver platter of glorious Romantic music from 1894 in this world premiere recording of a stirring opera about the murderous plot against Kleopatra, fabled Queen of the Nile. Beautiful melodies, alluring harmonies and tense leitmotifs, all expertly put to use by probably the most celebrated Danish opera composer of his time, August Enna.