in brief
06.04.2022

Cool operatrip 

DR2: »Operarejsen« 
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© DR

I jagten på inspiration til en ny opera rejser den lidende kunstner Allan Gravgaard Madsen gennem Europas operahuse/repertoire. Med i camperen er Frederik Cilius og Rasmus Bruun, og de formår at tale opera – fra Gounod, Puccini x 2 til Wagner og venner – så også ikke-kendere hænger i. 2/3-dele af spilletiden bruges på de tre musketerers eventyr; det er hyggeligt, du, og Cilius bringer i hvert afsnit på en dynamisk måde de vigtigste temaer for aftenens opera i spil. Faust kaldes den ultimative midtlivskrise og Baron Scarpia fra Tosca en prototypisk #metoo-forbryder. Formidlingen fungerer bedst i deres diskussioner efter forestillingerne, især når Madsen forestiller sig, hvordan komponisten har grebet arbejdet an. Særligt Wagner-episoden gør indtryk: Det betagende Bayreuth (man får lyst til at aflægge et besøg ASAP) overfor Cilius, der ikke lægger fingre imellem i sin redegørelse for Wagner og antisemitismen.



Den meget bathos-tunge fortællestil må være det største kritikpunkt: Når diskussionen bliver dyb, fx når Madsen åbner for sin tvivl omkring sin komponistgerning, punkterer Cilius eller Bruun alvoren med en joke. Synd, for Madsen kan være utroligt sympatisk og indsigtsfuld, men også fordi det kunne fungere som en parallel til de dybe emner, som operamusik bearbejder. 



Jeg håber dog inderligt på en sæson to, hvor blikket kunne vendes mod USA, Rusland og det 20./21. århundrede. Hele rejsen havde jo netop det formål at lade Madsen skrive en ny opera – vi får lov at høre ouverturen – og det ville være synd at slutte projektet, når det først er begyndt.

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»To me, music is love. I love how music allows you to skip the small talk and connect directly with people’s innermost selves. It is an extraordinary and moving way to meet one another.«

Fenja wrote her first song at the age of twelve – about a polar bear dying due to climate change – and themes of existentialism, nature, and her own sensitive nature came to define the lyrics and sound she has since developed. She released her debut album, Flugtdyr, in 2021, and in February 2026, she released the album Menneskedyr.

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© PR

Danish composer Sofus Forsberg has died at the age of 56. With his distinctive blend of melodic sensibility, electronic processing and rhythmic precision, he created a musical world that moved effortlessly between IDM, pop and the avant-garde.

© Simon Weyhe

»Music for me is my hobby, my job, my outlet, my mood, an endless source of discovering new music and new, old music, some of the best and can be some of the worst. And I love it!« 

Track72 aka Tue Track aka Anders Lundby Brixen. Producer, DJ, rapper and more. Known for his role in the trio Malk De Koijn, which since the mid-1990s has created a personal universe in Danish hip-hop. Has performed in Ponyblod, Xtra Naan, Track Abdullah Rock, Booty Cologne and others.

© PR
© PR

On Wednesday, 5 August 2026, it happened again: a chord in John Cage’s Organ2/ASLSP (As Slow as Possible) changed after two and a half years. Classic FM reports.

The work was written by the American avant-garde composer John Cage in the mid-1980s. The score consists of eight pages of music, and, as the title suggests, the instruction is to play it »as slow as possible.«

»What music is to me? Where have the great feelings gone?«.

Gellért Szabó is a composer, conductor and performer based in Leipzig, Germany. His work combines contemporary composition with influences from free improvisation, noise and the expressive richness of the late nineteenth century. He is the founder and artistic director of the 23-piece Ideal Orchestra, an ensemble dedicated to large-scale experimental music of sweeping emotional intensity. Alongside this work, Szabó performs internationally with his solo project Radical Radio Show, exploring symphonic textures and immersive sound worlds through a single electric guitar and live electronics. His music is driven by a search for intensity, vulnerability and uncompromising emotional expression.