Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Per Nørgård
Anatomisk safari (1967)
(Anatomic Safari)- Edition Wilhelm Hansen Copenhagen (World)
Programme Note
ANATOMIC SAFARI - for accordion solo (1967)
In 1967 the Danish composer Per Nørgård suggested that we should go on safari together, a safari into the anatomy of the accordion. He wanted to explore untrodden paths in the musical jungles of my instrument, and in our partnership it became my task as guide to show him some of the virgin territories, which he uncovered with brillant imagination and a sharp pen. In nine movements Nørgård leads us through many exciting jungles, starting in the heart of the accordion - the bellows. In this first "Respiration" the accordion reveals itself as a wind instrument, breathing audibly, while the first faint tones start to tremble, ready for further development in the tremendous crescendo of the second "Movement". From a serene landscape of "Clusters" in the third movement, the composer suddenly brings us into a whirlwind of drumming sounds. No, it is not a tropical storm, only he mechanical noises of the keyboards reevaling themselves in wavelike movements, "Fluctuaions". Countinuing the safari - after a record-short "Reaction" - Per Nørgård leads us into a "percussion" world of clicking registers, and then proceeds to the supernatural mystery sounds of tone-glissandos in the "Vertigo" movements. An impatient "Toccata" heralds the return voyage to a "Fantasy" with such old, familiar anatomic features of the accordion as - well, listen for yourself!
Mogens Ellegaard
In 1967 the Danish composer Per Nørgård suggested that we should go on safari together, a safari into the anatomy of the accordion. He wanted to explore untrodden paths in the musical jungles of my instrument, and in our partnership it became my task as guide to show him some of the virgin territories, which he uncovered with brillant imagination and a sharp pen. In nine movements Nørgård leads us through many exciting jungles, starting in the heart of the accordion - the bellows. In this first "Respiration" the accordion reveals itself as a wind instrument, breathing audibly, while the first faint tones start to tremble, ready for further development in the tremendous crescendo of the second "Movement". From a serene landscape of "Clusters" in the third movement, the composer suddenly brings us into a whirlwind of drumming sounds. No, it is not a tropical storm, only he mechanical noises of the keyboards reevaling themselves in wavelike movements, "Fluctuaions". Countinuing the safari - after a record-short "Reaction" - Per Nørgård leads us into a "percussion" world of clicking registers, and then proceeds to the supernatural mystery sounds of tone-glissandos in the "Vertigo" movements. An impatient "Toccata" heralds the return voyage to a "Fantasy" with such old, familiar anatomic features of the accordion as - well, listen for yourself!
Mogens Ellegaard