Niels Rosing-Schow turns 70 in 2024 and Wise Music Group is pleased to present a number of works by the Danish composer, whose musical journey embodies a fusion of cultural influences and a relentless pursuit of sonic exploration. Although educated at Copenhagen University and the Royal Danish Academy of Music, he had his musical epiphany in France under the musical influence of Iannis Xenakis, developing a spectral style that embraces instrumental timbre and color. Rosing-Schow's music is defined by experimentation and unwavering creativity. Niels Rosing-Schow's tenure as a professor of composition and interim president at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and as chairman of the Danish Composer’s Society speaks volumes of his esteemed stature in the musical community. In recent years, he has addressed pressing political issues such as gender politics, climate, and political and social unrest, infusing his compositions with poignant social commentary.

 

Black Virgin - 11’

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In several churches and monasteries around Europe, the Madonna statues are unmistakably dark. Whether the blackening is due to the soot from centuries’ burning of wax candles, damage by fire or the fact that the statue actually pictures a black woman, since the Middle Age, these ‘black virgins’ have been said to possess special, miraculous qualities. Echoes of the possible cult-like interpretations as well as the mysteries of Christianity resound in the poem by the French writer Gilles Gourdon which forms the basis of the work Black Virgin.

 

I Giardini dietro la Citta - 13’

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Composed for the French ensemble TM+, I Giardini dietro la Citta is the depiction of a vivid dream: The gardens behind the city.

 

Vocabulary II - 12’

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Vocabulary II is a musical exploration of the sonic elements of the words: Five Meeting - Density Changing, broken down to the smallest possible elements of phonemes and morphemes.

 

Distant Calls - 10’

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Drawing inspiration from the opening of Tristan Murail’s 'L’esprit des dunes', Distant Calls features a marvelous ensemble of strings, flute, trumpet, clarinet and even guitar and puts the audience in “remote non-existing parts of the world:

In my piece, I am freely referring to the shape and mode of the opening measures of Murail's work. It becomes the set off for an imagery of scales and calls from non-existing remote places. My invented, and highly ornamented melodic material is dragged through passages of heterophony and fields of various rhythmic ostinati.

This unusual combination of instruments was used in an arrangement of Paul Simon's song 'Can't run but I can walk much faster', which was performed on Paul Simon's latest tour (also passing Royal Arena in Copenhagen, where I heard it). Even this particular song only vaguely has the imprint of Simon's fascinating mixture of traditions from various parts of the globe, I indirectly and modestly pay a tribute to world music, by stealing this particular sonority (and quoting a few notes of a bridge passage…)

- Niels Rosing- Schow

 

Listen to more music of Niels Rosing-Schow