22.06.10
Per Nørgård’s Will-o’-the-Wisps in Town provides a rich opportunity for Mezzo-Soprano Helene Gjerris to excercise the famed versatility of her wonderful voice and acting talent, for she plays the parts of the Marsh Witch and the Narrator as well as Hans Christian Andersen himself in this fantasy based on his fairy tale. In this musical retelling, the will-o’-the-wisps even visit our own times, aided by the witty pen of writer Suzanne Brøgger.
On the new CD featuring Helene Gjerris and Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen, you will find not only Will-o’-the-Wisps in Town but also one of the most recent works by Nørgård, Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking. This work is a meditation on the wave forms of music, inspired by the endless sea that connects Denmark and Hawaii.
Sharp satire and beauty beyond words – the two works on this new CD demonstrate the scope of Per Nørgård’s music.
On the accompanying DVD, the reporters of TV-Glad demonstrate how easy and entertaining the so-called ‘difficult’ music actually is, when they take us to a concert and pose open-minded questions to Nørgård and Brøgger. This road movie by TV Glad is called Will-o’-the-Wisps in Town – a Journey in Fairy Tales and Music and was filmed in 2008 when Athelas Sinfonietta went on tour with the work.
The CD and DVD comes in a beautifully designed slip case with a lavish booklet containing libretto, interviews and more in Danish and English, and the DVD has English subtitles. Both works on the CD are premiere recordings.
The CD and DVD is available at Bånd & Pladecentret in Copenhagen and can be ordered in all Scandinavian music shops via the distributor GDC. The CD/DVD is also available on the internet at i-Music – and the music alone is available as a download on i-Tunes.