Poul Rovsing Olsen: The Planets – Works for Voice & Instruments S.Asmussen, U.Miilmann, H.Slaatto, A.Slaatto, J.Slaatto, F.M.Larsen, C.Martinez

• Poul Rovsing Olsen (1922 - 1982):
• 1 A Dream in Violet, Op. 85 16:02
• The Planets, Op. 80:
• 2 The Planets, Op. 80: No. 1, Aether 03:28
• 3 The Planets, Op. 80: No. 2, Saturnus 02:11
• 4 The Planets, Op. 80: No. 3, Iupiter 02:40
• 5 The Planets, Op. 80: No. 4, Mars 01:11
• 6 The Planets, Op. 80: No. 5, Sol 01:38
• 7 The Planets, Op. 80: No. 6, Venus 03:31
• 8 The Planets, Op. 80: No. 7, Mercurius 01:38
• 9 The Planets, Op. 80: No. 8, Luna 04:14
• Rencontres, op. 67:
• 10 Rencontres, Op. 67 09:47
• Pour une Viole d’Amour, op. 66:
• 11 Pour une viole d'amour, Op. 66 09:06
• Alapa–Tarana, op. 41:
• 12 Alapa-Tarana, Op. 41 09:57
• Total Runtime 01:05:23

Info for Poul Rovsing Olsen: The Planets – Works for Voice & Instruments

This album features Rovsing Olsen's last composition, a string trio named a Dream in Violet, as well as four world premiere recordings: two other instrumental works and two pieces for voice and instruments, including The Planets, based on an illustrated block book from the 15th century.

The composer Poul Rovsing Olsen (1922-1982) was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and subsequently in Paris, where he studied under the highly regarded teacher Nadia Boulanger and the renowned composer Olivier Messiaen. Alongside his studies of classical music, Rovsing Olsen cultivated his passion for Oriental music, and at the Parisian Musée de l’Homme, with its extensive collection of tapes and records with the music of peoples from far-off countries, he was able to steep himself in the musical languages. This interest was to have great importance for his later life and work.

In 1958, Poul Rovsing Olsen was on the team working under the Danish professor P.V. Glob on archaeological excavations near the Persian Gulf, which enabled him to realise his great wish to experience Oriental music in its authentic environment. This marked the beginning of his professional work on ethnomusicology. Apart from numerous trips to Arab countries he also carried out research assignments in India, Egypt, Turkey and Greenland. Rovsing Olsen gained inter­national recognition within this field, and on the basis of his acquired competence he was in 1960 appoint­ed archivist of the Danish Folklore Archives, where he worked for the rest of his life. He also came to teach ethnomusicology at the universities of Lund and Copenhagen and was entrusted with the post of chairman of the International Council for Traditional Music.

Rovsing Olsen’s oeuvre includes a number of ethnomusicological publications and record issues. He was the originator of the first recording of music from the Persian Gulf area (including songs of the pearl-fishers from Bahrain) that appeared on record in the West (Pêcheurs de Perles et Musiciens du Golfe Persique, Disques Ocora, OCR42, 1969). He wrote the book Music in Bahrain. Traditional Music of the Persian Gulf with accompanying three CDs (Jutland Archaeological Society, 2002).

His work on the music of distant countries also left its mark on Rovsing Olsen’s own music, which comprises 85 opus numbers. As a composer, he was neither traditionalist or a highly experimental avant-gardist. It is by allowing elements of Western and Oriental music traditions to interact that he develops his own extremely personal mode of expression, one that brings the sounds of the Orient into Danish music. This applies to all the compositions in the present publication.

Signe Asmussen, soprano
Anette Slaatto, viola
Jonathan Slaatto, cello
Helge Slaatto, violin
Ulla Miilmann, flute
Christian Martínez, percussion
Frederik Munk Larsen, guitar

No biography found.

Booklet for Poul Rovsing Olsen: The Planets – Works for Voice & Instruments