La sera estatica

Beginning with the intimate, restrained sounds of the solo piano cycle "12 Nocturnes", a night music that extends from sunset to sunrise, and continuing with the Piano Concerto no. 3, "La sera estatica" - an ecstatic evening touched by the fleeting magic of twilight, where new encounters and possibilities quietly awaken, recorded live during the world premiere by the Copenhagen Phil under John Storgårds - this album immerses the listener in Bent Sørensen (1958) deep love for the piano and his extraordinary poetic imagination. For years, Bent Sørensen struggled with composing for piano. Through his encounters with the two pianists Leif Ove Andsnes and Katrine Gislinge he finally found his calling as a composer. This resulted in a series of original works for piano, which together form a unique dramaturgy. For Sørensen and his wife Katrine Gislinge, the time of the Covid pandemic was a time of freedom. In the evenings, Gislinge often gave a mini-concert with pieces she had rehearsed. The piano music at home could take on an ecstatic character as darkness fell. Fragments of this music live on in La sera estatica (The ecstatic evening). Both La sera estatica and the 12 Nocturnes are inspired by the magical forces that can work in the twilight and the night that follows - a quieter world in which the imagination has free rein. The 12 Nocturnes for solo piano are a collection of short pieces with great expressive power. It is wonderfully atmospheric music with a lively, magical sound reminiscent of the stars at night - the classical nocturne, reinterpreted in the 21st century.