Symphony No. 3 (1972-1975) by Per Nørgård. Per Nørgård's third symphony commissioned by The Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra (conductor Herbert Blomstedt) was premiered in Copenhagen in 1976 and received wide attention. The work gives comprehensive expression to a new realm of musical experience which the composer began to explore toward the end of the 1960s. While the first period in Nørgårds production in the 1050s represents his personal interpretation of the Nordic music tradition – evidenced for example in his “Piano Sonata No. 2” (1957) and“Constellations” for chamber orchestra (1958) – and the second period in the 1960s saw him working with serial techniques musical collage and a new sound-palette - especially in the orchestral works “Iris” (196-67) and “Luna” (1967) – with “Voyage into the Golden Screen” (1968) Nørgård arrived at a new compositional technique based on the use of a special form of a so-called “infinity series” a principle of musical motion to be applied to all kinds of scales (chromatic diatonic et cetera). It is characteristic that that Nørgård in the 1970s chose to cultivate diatonic infinity series already evident in the mythological opera “Gilgamesh” (1971-72). Thus the Symphony No. 3 begun directly after the opera combines the infinity series major and minor scales the partial series of natural harmonics and “sub-harmonics” (Nørgårds terminology) with rhythmic patterns based on the Golden Section (the Golden Mean) in a nexus of synchronous yet disparate elements which serve the composers vision of musical coherence.. The works which followed the symphony – the operas “Siddharta” (1975-79) and “The Divine Circus” (1981-82) and Symphony No. 4 (1981) – usher a new

Per Nørgård's Symphony No. 2 In One Movement - work for Orchestra dating from 1970. Programme Note: After the first performance of my chamber orchestra work VOYAGE INTO THE GOLDEN SCREEN (1969) I was very preoccupied with ‘voyaging on’ in the infinity series I had brought to fruition in the second movement of the work: instead of about 1000 notes of the series I wanted to use about 4000 in order to create the potential for further exploration of the many layers and interval combinations of the infinity series. Instead of the pristine progression of the notes and its orchestration in‘Voyage’ I now wanted to intervene: to create melodies lead up to climaxes darken enlighten etc. but all with respect for the continuous flow and the preservation of the special timeless objectivity characteristic of the infinity series. One can perhaps experience the many recurrences of motifs in tempo layers from fast to very slow as a successor to the fractal computer graphics of the eighties. At any rate this ‘Symphony no. 2 in one movement’ (which was the result) became the precursor of the other works of the seventies including my 50-minute long chorally integrated Third Symphony (from 1973-75) which is also based on the infinity series but in addition has incorporated the upper and lower harmonic series and rhythms with ‘Golden’ duration proportions. The Second Symphony lasts about 25 minutes and was given its first performance on13th April 1970 by the Aarhus City Orchestra conducted by Per Dreier. Per Nørgård August 1992

Symphony No.7 was composed by Per Nørgård in 2004-06. Dedicated to Per Erik Veng.Comissioned by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra / DR. Premiered by The Danish National Symphony Orchestra / DRconducted by Thomas Dausgaard at the inauguration of Copenhagen Concert Hall 29th of January 2009. Score revised 2013 by Per Nørgård and Thomas Dausgaard.Editor: Ivan Hansen

Symphony No. 6 'At The End Of Day' (1997-99) for Orchestra by Per Nørgård. Programme note: ”… with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day”  (New Testament 2 Peter 3:8)  My SYMPHONY NO. 6 was commissioned by the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra the Göteborg Symphony Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra to be premiered at the millenium 2000.  The subtitle AT THE END OF THE DAY can be understood literally or it can mean “when all is added up”. However in my opinion nothing ever quite adds up there is always “something” missing any ending will be provisional ...  This symphony appears to end only a few minutes into the first movement the first passage as the music fades away to almost-silence after a start of flying colours. But then there is still “something” a small motive (first heard in the initial sound-waves) which reappears hesitant but persistent and this embryo is what leads on the musical progression. An agitated section of many instrumental voices comes next until all the voices become obsessed with the same phrase a see-saw motive based on thirds. This section evolves into almost martial ferocity when broken off by a tutti descent into an extreme bass-world (a bass-world which actually permeates the whole symphony emplyoing instruments that I have never used before: double-bass tuba double-bass trombone double-bass clarinet and bass flute).  The second movement the second passage apparently takes off where the first passage ended but now the events are more ambiguous and the same music may be perceived as fast-moving one moment and slow-moving the next. This section is a kind of passacaglia the characteristic baroque bass-variation.  Without a break follows the third and last passage in a

Per Nørgård's Aspects of Leaving - Episodes and Interludes for Orchestra and Chamber Ensemble (1997). Orchestral realisation by Simon Foxley. Commissioned by COMA for the ISCM Festival 1998 in Manchester England. Parts are available on hire: hire@ewh.dk

A stuning composition by Per Nørgård Iris for Orchestra dates from 1966-67. This is the full conductor's score.

Wenn Die Rose Sich Selbst Schmückt Schmückt Sie Auch Den Garten (When The Rose Beautifies Itself It Beautifies The Garden ) was composed by Per Nørgård in 1971. Chamber Cantata for four performers Scored for Soprano Alto Flute Double Bass and Percussion (all playing also Crotales). Composed for and dedicated to Dorothy Dorrow. Parts available: KP01092 Preface / Programme Note The title of the work is borrowed from a fragment by the German poet Friedrich Rückert.This fragment this short sentence (which Rückert apparently neverelaborated upon) is the entire basis of the work. I was inspired by the meaning as well as the sound of these words.I perceive the meaning of the sentence as being a defence for the refinement of an individual’s personal gifts - far from the present hostility toward individuality and the senseless praise of impersonal success in society. Personal refinement can so the fragment in my interpretation at its best be accompanied by a deep sense of responsibility and become an active and positive influence in society.The sound the timbre of the individual words and characters is employed both instraightforward text-sequences as well as in the exploration of individual vowels and consonants as pure sounds. The soprano is often used purely instrumentally echoing and pre-echoing discreetly the notes of the flute and the harmonics of the double bass often imperceptably stealing their notes and altering them into human sounds which then yetagain are absorbed into the instrumental tapestry. Per Nørgård 1971

Les cinq pièces de Sphères sont une commande de Radio-France et ont été créées sur les ondes de France-Musique chacun des cinq jours de la semaine. La thématique de l'oeuvre découle directement des conditions de sa naissance puisque Séléné (la lune) a vu le jour un lundi, Mars un mardi, etc. jusqu'à Vénus un vendredi.L'évocation de ces noms fait d'abord tinter nos souvenirs mythologiques et, en effet, une partie de l'inspiration de ces pièces est redevable à la personnalité des dieux de l'Olympe: Vénus toute de grâce sensuelle - Jupiter figé dans son écrasante domination universelle - Mercure volatile, insaisissable - Mars symbole de guerre mais aussi de printemps, de renouveau, et surtout force vitale irrépressible - la lune enfin qui, lorsqu'elle se montre ronde et blanche - la pleine lune est l'une des facettes de Diane - a pour nom Séléné. Nous en ressentons régulièrement la puissance attractive figurée ici musicalement par une série de vagues dont la dernière, véritable marée montante, est comme un pan d'océan soulevé par ce satellite prédateur.Car ce sont bien les corps célestes qui ont stimulé la plus grande part des idées musicales (l'indifférence de Jupiter n'est pas que le fait d'Epicure - elle s'explique aussi par sa constitution essentiellement gazeuse).La période, source à la fois de fréquence et de durée, est ici l'élément générateur - le développement, un déploiement de spirales harmoniques et rythmiques - ces douze minutes d'orchestre, un hommage aux innombrables sphères qui virevoltent à travers l'univers dans une danse fascinante, un contrepoint cosmique aux proportions étourdissantes.Patrick Burgan / Orchestre