CD review of the CD "Der Wind bläset wo er will"
...These two substantial works add up to just under 50 minutes of exceptional contemporary music, but frankly who’s counting? In each case the sounds Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen has devised are utterly absorbing. He writes with tremendous sophistication and wit in the first piece and with an emotional directness in the second which is as daring as it is affecting. To echo the translation of the title of the first piece, both works last as long as they do. Each will amply reward any curious, sympathetic listener. That is surely enough.
Richard Hanlon, Music Web International, Feb. 2021
...Resümee
Weiterhin fällt auch Olesens Lust auf Instrumentierung auf. Während im ersten Werk unter anderem eine singende Säge zu hören ist, wirkt im Cellokonzert erfreulicherweise die in größeren klassischen Ensembles leider selten anzutreffende Konzertgitarre mit.
In dieser Aufnahme treffen verschiedene Charaktere aufeinander, und kombinieren ihre Stärken zu einem Hörerlebnis mit großer Tiefe. Ein weiteres Beispiel dafür, wieviel man verpassen kann, wenn man an Neuer Musik „vorbeihört“.
Stefan Pillhofer, Orchestergraben, 2. Februar 2021
2025
Thursday April 7, 7.30 pm
DR Koncerthuset, Ørestads Boulevard 13, 2300 København S
Violin Concerto (premiere)
Simone Lamsma, violin, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Otto Tausk, cond.
Nordic council Music Prize
Thomas Agerfeldt Olesen’s Christmas Oratory is nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize
Juleoratorium
Listen to the Christmas Oratory (2017) here
The Picture of Dorian Gray on DVD
BUY DVD! The premiere of The Picture of Dorian Gray took place on 22 August 2013 at Concert Hall Aarhus and was seen everywhere as one of the big events in Danish musical life. The Danish National Opera was not unfamiliar with the idea of venturing beyond the ordinary. In particular the complete production of Richard Wagner’s demanding The Ring of the Nibelung in 1987 had placed Denmark’s second-largest city on the musical world map. But when former opera director Giordano Bellincampi took up the challenge of The Picture of Dorian Gray a decade and a half later, it almost seemed a rash decision. He said yes to a music drama by a young composer with no experience of other operas; indeed, a music drama based on Oscar Wilde’s most controversial novel – and with no singers on the stage!