Per Nørgård

I picked up some Nørgård on the recommendation of, of all things, the Economist, and found his work to be daunting and rewarding in equal measures. I've got 2 CDs' worth of works, which are apparently enough for me for now: the first has has his second violin concerto, a single-movement work called "Dream Play", and "Voayage into the Golden Screen"; the second (which is what The Economist recommended) has Symphony No. 6 and his Terrains Vagues.

If you're put off by his more abstruse edges, you probably want to steer clear of Symphony No. 6 for now. It's good but is like trying to listen to Branca's one actual symphony scored for an orchestra; not quite that level of undifferentiated sea of sound, but definitely not super approachable to a one such as me who isn't intimately familiar with the twists and turns of post-serialist Scandinavian composition.

The violin concerto is knotty, but short and simple enough to be navigable. For me, however, "Dream Play" and "Voyage into the Golden Screen" are the pieces I'd tip on that CD. They're both concise abstracts, and they have a kind of effervescent sparkly chime that compensates for the often chilly level of abstraction. In some ways it reminds me of some of Jonathan Beppler's score work for the Cremaster films: narrative without being too concrete or ever becoming wallpaper.

That said, I'd much rather spend my Nordic avant garde time on Einojuhani Rautavaara or one of Arne Nordheim's symphonic works. Rautavaara's work is sweet without being simplistic, and Nordheim has become one of my favorite composers (and of his works, the electronic works that everyone knows through Rune Grammofon are actually some of my least favorite, as much as I like Deathprod and Biosphere), simply by being approachable without ever falling prey to treacle. Someday there will be a grand accounting and Nordheim will be given the recognition he's due. Not that you asked.

Thanks for the reply - do use this thread for any other composers or to go off on any tangents as you wish.

Since starting the thread I've actually heard his 3rd symphony - again, this is widely thought of as innovative with the form - but no luck. I can be quite comfortable w/the normally abstruse, frankly, so thus far I can't put my finger on it.

re: Nordheim - have come across him by having a listen to his electronic works and like you say there isn't much to be found to them. I'll chase up any of his acoustic works.

Another Scandinavian whose 'voice' I liked lots, and an immediate liking for, was that of Danish composer Bent Sorensen. I'll post once I've done more on the chasing.

Nordheim has a pretty extensive catalog, and a few years ago I was browsing at Amoeba when I ran across a lavishly packaged retrospective box set of his works (_The Art of Arne Nordheim_) that, under the sway of one of those quixotic impulses I get every once in a while, I bought straight off the shelf. At that point I'd only heard _Nordheim Transformed_ and had liked it, but had no idea how much of that was Nordheim and how much of it was Biosphere or Deathprod, so this was something of a leap of faith. It turned out to be a very rewarding one.

There's a ton of material on the set -- chamber works, sound plays (interestingly, he wrote a score for The Tempest, and takes it in quite a different direction than Sibelius did, although I can't imagine but that the Sibelius was a reference point), and some choral works (but no lieder).

For me the highlight of the set is "Aftonland", a tricksy but approachable chamber piece (with loads of declamatory vocals in Norwegian), and a set of violin + tape delay pieces that seem less avant garde than interesting and appealing. Nordheim has a knack, like Ligeti, for making his music approachable, no matter how far he strays from the beaten path, even if at times his work feels a tad academic (it's hard for me to find any modern composers -- apart from Ligeti, and perhaps John Adams and Philip Glass -- who don't).

Nordheim likes the celeste, chimes, and glockenspiel, and uses them to create these shimmering little tonal clusters that dangle off his music like tiny little jewels. A big part of his appeal to me is how sparkly his music is. I also admire how he reconciles postwar sounds with tonality. Now that Ligeti's dead, he's probably my favorite living composer.

Nørgård, by contrast, is much chewier. He reminds me a lot of Shostakovich, only perhaps with less irony. His music is all introversion -- I can't help but feel if I could just penetrate its exterior, there's a very rich world contained in his music. But like Sibelius, you have to approach the music on its terms, not yours. Even the Nørgård I've liked hasn't struck me as particularly inviting.

"Nordheim likes the celeste, chimes, and glockenspiel, and uses them to create these shimmering little tonal clusters that dangle off his music like tiny little jewels."

Like Feldman then (and, to an extent, Ferneyhough)? Making the music's surface sounds nicer with a few tricks and yet still presenting a set of 'challenges' to the listen.

I'm not sure about the academic distinction that is applied to certain composers. Certainly, much new music can be melodically dry, but there are other musical elements that can be played up apart from melody, and many concepts-heavy pieces that DO, to the composer's credit, come off quite wonderfully sometimes.

Nørgård needs to be performed and I'll need to see it when that happens.