Hakon Borresen

[JimL]

With a right diagonal through the O in Borresen.  Just heard his delightful Violin Concerto in G Major, Op. 11 on YouTube.  Is there anything of his unavailable commercially that someone is willing to download in the Danish Composers file?  I can't name a work, so I thought I'd go fishing here. 

[Balapoel]

Almost all of his orchestral and chamber music are available commercially, but I'm not sure about:

The Normans, concert overture, Op. 16
Festmusik, Op. 22
Mod doden (Death), for strings (1932)
String Quartet No. 1 in e minor, Op. 20

[Leea25]

I believe Mod doden (Death), for strings, has been recorded by Juha Kangas and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra on an album called Adagietto. I don't know about the others I'm afraid.

[regriba]

Yes, "Mod døden" is on the Adagietto disc. Apart from the orchestral and chamber discs, there is also a disc of songs and piano works on the small Danish label Helikon. I'm pretty sure the other works mentioned haven't been recorded commercially, but I'm not aware of any radio performances either. I do know that an old performance of Børresen's second symphony "The Sea" has been broadcast several times by Danish radio, but it may be the same one as that on the 2-disc set of "Late Romantic Danish Symphonies" on Danacord.

[Alan Howe]

As an aside, allow me to give a hearty recommendation here to the cpo disc of Borresen's 2nd and 3rd Symphonies....
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/Hakon-B%F6rresen-1876-1954-Symphonien-Nr-2-3/hnum/7389011
Don't opt for the Dacapo alternative - the cpo is the real thing. And in Symphony No.2 we have what I take to be the composer's finest work. An absolute must for lovers of vigorous, full-blooded, late-Romantic Nordic symphonism. Marvellous!

[regriba]

I agree completely with Alan. The cpo discs are the better alternatives, regarding both performances and sound

[Peter1953]

I can only echo Alan's words! Let's not forget the full-blooded romantic VC. A gorgeous piece, especially the slow movement. Available on Dacapo, but coupled with Symphony No. 1.

[alberto]

I share your empathy (and more) for Borresen. I have both the CPO coupling Sym. 2 and 3 and the Da Capo coupling VC and Sym. 1. I bought the latter (in Stockholm) at cheap Naxos price as  "Naxos Scandinavia" label: what happened to that cheap series?

[regriba]

<<what happened to that cheap series?>>

I don't know about the other Scandinavian countries, but in Denmark Naxos and Dacapo had an agreement that some discs with music by Danish composers came out at Naxos price in Denmark (and presumably also in the other Scandinavian countries) but at full price elsewhere. The discs included the complete symphonies of Børresen, Ludolf Nielsen and Niels W. Gade, plus works by Peter Heise, Fini Henriques and H. C. Lumbye. The symphonies of Louis Glass were also recorded but never issued, for some reason I have never found out. The discs are still available at Naxos price in Denmark, but no new discs have come out for at least 10 years. I think I read somewhere that the Naxos/Dacapo collaboration ran into trouble at some point. Probably the discs didn't sell that well either. At least you can sometimes get e.g. the Børresen VC disc at next to nothing in Danish shops. People don't know what they miss ...

[Miles R.]

With a right diagonal through the O in Borresen.

Here ya go:

Ø!!

Hold down the "alt" key and type "0248" on your numeric keypad for the small "ø," "0216" for the capital "Ø." Øøøøøøøøø!

[Jonathan]

I heard his 2nd Symphony ages ago, I really liked it and considered buying the boxed set - however, based upon what has been said here, it might be better to wait for CPO to finish their survey of his works!

[JimL]

With a right diagonal through the O in Borresen.

Here ya go:

Ø!!

Hold down the "alt" key and type "0248" on your numeric keypad for the small "ø," "0216" for the capital "Ø." Øøøøøøøøø!

Thanks!  I wasn't about to look through the charmap one at a time until I found it!

[Peter1953]

I've just listened again to the wonderful VC and Symphony No. 1. Although I think his 2nd as a whole is the best, the slow movement allegretto sostenuto of the 1st could very well be one of the most beautiful orchestral pieces Børresen ever composed. The theme grabs me enormously and I cannot get it out of my head. But Tchaikovsky is not far away...

[Tartini]

The concert overture "Normannerne", (the normans), is now available: https://www.7digital.com/artist/niels-borksand/release/hakon-b%C3%B8rresen-8164450 And on You Tube.

[eschiss1]

tangentially: on a Mac keyboard sufficiently extended, click "option" and hold it down while pressing "o" for "ø". On some tablet/phone keyboards it's easier.