Nørgård From For a Change
Innovative, playful and magically shimmering music by a Danish doyen of composition.
About the video
- Published online 29 August 2023.
- The video is approximately 4 minutes.
- A musical excerpt from the series Mankind and Music, episode 4.
Danish Per Nørgård is one of Scandinavia’s leading composers and has written nearly 400 works that cover most forms – operas, symphonies, concertos, electro-acoustic music, chamber and choral music, as well as music for ballets and film soundtracks. In the late 1950s he invented his infinity series, a method for creating melodies and musical structures upon which many of his works were subsequently based. His music has an endless capacity for surprise.
We hear this, among other places, in the virtuosic final movement from the percussion concerto For a Change. The title refers to the “Book of Changes”, or I Ching, the Chinese “wisdom book” that dates back thousands of years.
In 2012, Per Nørgård and his music were featured at Konserthuset Stockholm’s international Composer Festival.
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This excerpt of music is from episode 4 of the series Mankind and Music. The five episodes are available to watch here on Konserthuset Play. Why does music exist? What happens to us when we make or listen to music? In this series, we explore answers to these questions together with musicians, listeners and researchers.
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The music
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Per Nørgård Fourth Movement Towards Completion: Fire Over Water from For a Change, Percussion Concerto No. 1
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Participants
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Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
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Tobias Ringborg conductor
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Daniel Kåse percussion
