Bent Sørensen is a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 composer.

Sørensen studied composition with Ib Nørholm

Ib Nørholm

Ib Nørholm is a Danish composer and organist.Nørholm studied with Vagn Holmboe at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, where he later taught , becoming a professor in 1981...

  at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and with Per Nørgård

Per Nørgård

Per Nørgård is a Danish composer.-Biography:Nørgård studied with Vagn Holmboe at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. To begin with, he was strongly influenced by the Nordic styles of Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen and Vagn Holmboe...

 at the Jutland Music Academy.

Sørensen's mature works create a sense of decay that is emotionally similar to viewing an aging visual artwork. There is a sense of compromised beauty. Sørensen achieves this by treating major/minor tonalities with microtonal

Microtonal music

Microtonal music is music using microtones—intervals of less than an equally spaced semitone. Microtonal music can also refer to music which uses intervals not found in the Western system of 12 equal intervals to the octave.-Terminology:...

 inflections and blurring the harmonies with glissandi. Examples of this technique can be found in his trombone concerto "Birds and Bells", a work for orchestra and choir "Echoing Garden", and his violin concerto "Sterbende Gärten", which took the prestigious Nordic Music Prize

Nordic Council Music Prize

The Nordic Council Music Prize is awarded annually by NOMUS, the Nordic Music Committee. Every two years it is awarded for a work by a living composer...

 in 1996. His early works deal with folksong in prosaic way. Sørensen has composed in a variety of mediums, including opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 (his "Under the Sky" was premiered in 2004 at the Royal Opera House in Copenhagen), orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

, choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

, chamber ensemble and solo instruments, but notably he has not composed any electroacoustic music

Electroacoustic music

Electroacoustic music originated in Western art music during its modern era following the incorporation of electric sound production into compositional practice. The initial developments in electroacoustic music composition during the mid-20th century are associated with the activities of composers...

.

Since 2008 he has been a visiting professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music

Royal Academy of Music

The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...

 in London.

Piano

• Angelus (?)
• The Shadows of Silence (?)
• The Masque of the Red Death (1990)
• Lullabies (2000)
• Berceuse No.2 (2007)

Solo

• The Songs of the Decaying Garden for clarinet (?)
• Troldspil for clarinet (1982)
• The Lady of Shalott for viola (1987)
• The Bells of Vineta for trombone (1990)
• The Shadows of the Shepherds for oboe (1990)
• Plainte d'un Troubadour for oboe (1993)
• Angelus Waltz for guitar (1996)
• Shadow Siciliano for guitar (1997)
• Sliding Sarabande for guitar (1999)
• Looking on Darkness for accordion (2000)
• The Hill of the Heartless Giant for double bass (2001)
• Midnight Mazurka for guitar (2006)
• Doll March & Dark Jig for guitar (2008)

Chamber music (2 to 6 players)

• Trotto for violin, cello, oboe, bassoon and horn (1983)
• Mädelein for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn (1985)
• Les Tuchins for 2 cellos, 2 trombones and 2 electric guitars (1986)
• Adieu for string quartet (1986)
• Alman for string quartet (?)
• Angels' Music for string quartet (1988)
• Camelot by Night for bass flute and guitar (1988)
• The Birds of Lament for 2 trombones and 3 percussions (?)
• The deserted Churchyards for violin, cello, flute, clarinet, percussion and piano (1990)
• The Lady of Shalott for string quartet (1993)
• Schreie und Melancholie for string quartet (1994)
• The Wings of Night for string quartet and trombone (1997)
• Sieben Sehnsüchte for violin, piano and trombone (1999)
• Nocturnal for string quartet and trombone (2001)
• Phantasmagoria for violin, cello and piano (2007)
• Mondnacht for clarinet, viola and piano (2007)
• Wasserflussen / Kirschgarten for clarinet, viola and piano (2008)
• Lugubre Gondola for violin, viola and cello (2009)
• Gondola l'Amore for violin, viola and cello (2010)
• Gondoli for violin, viola and cello (2010)
• Schattenlinie for viola, clarinet and piano (2010)
• Ständchen 4 for clarinet, trombone, piano, guitar, violon and cello (arr. 2010)
• Vorspiel for clarinet, trombone, piano, guitar, violin and cello (2010)
• Syv Længsler for mezzo-soprano, violin and piano (?)

Ensemble (7 or more players)

• Clairobscur for 10 instruments (1987)
• Minnewater: Thousands of Canons for 15 instruments (1988)
• Funeral Procession for violin, viola and 6 instruments (1989)
• Minnelieder - Zweites Minnewater for 14 instruments (1994)
• Sirenengesang for 12 instruments (1994)
• Birds and Bells for 13 instruments (solo trombone) (1995)
• This Night of no Moon for 13 instruments (1999)
• The Weeping White Room for 9 instruments (2002)
• Shadowland for 10 instruments (?)
• Sinful Songs for 14 instruments (?)
• Ständchen for 8 instruments (?)

Orchestra

• Lacrymae (1984)
• Symphony (1996)
• Intermezzo (2000)
• Exit Music (2007)
• Sounds Like You (2008)
• Tunnels de lumière (2010)

Concertos

• Sterbende Gärten for violin and orchestra (1993)
• The Lady and the Lark for viola and orchestra (1997)
• Intermezzi for 2 mezzo-sopranos, 6 violins and orchestra (2003)
• La Mattina for piano and orchestra (2009)
• La Notte for piano and orchestra (?)

Choir

• Recordare (?)

• Trois Motets (1985)
• Lacrimosa (1985)
• Strunge-sange (1988)
• In Paradisum (2002)
• Havet står så blankt og stille (2005)
• Søstrene (2006)
• Benedictus (2006)
• Fragments of Requiem (2007)
• Et Blad Falder til Himlen (2008)
• O Magnum Mysterium (2008)
• Og solen går ned (2008)
• Livet og Døden (2009)
• Sneklokker (2010)

Solo voice(s) and chamber ensemble

• Cyprianus for 3 sopranos, 2 clarinets and 2 percussions (1982)
• Donne for voice, violin and guitar (1983)
• Garnet to Garnet for voice, percussion and guitar (1985)
• I Love You If You Do (?)
• Popsange for tenor and piano (1990)
• Roses are Falling for mezzo-soprano and piano (1998)
• Cavatina for mezzo-soprano, violin and piano (2001)
• Seks sange for mezzo-soprano and violin (2001)
• Vokalise for mezzo-soprano and violin (2001)
• Three Stones for voice (2006)
• Triptykon for voice and piano (2006)

Choir and orchestra or ensemble

• The Echoing Garden with solo soprano and tenor (?)
• In Paradisum with two solo sopranos (?)
• Den Lille Havfrue with solo soprano and tenor(2005)

Monographies

• Bent Sørensen, Sterbende Gärten, The Echoing Garden, in « Sterbende Gärten - The Echoing Garden », Rebecca Hirsch (violin), Åsa Bäverstam (soprano), Martyn Hill (tenor), Choir et Orchestra of the Danish Radio, dir. Leif Segerstam
  Leif Segerstam
  Leif Segerstam is a Finnish conductor and composer.He studied violin, piano and conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and conducting at the Juilliard School in New York with Jean Morel....
  
  , CD Dacapo, 1996, N° 8.224039

• Bent Sørensen, Clairobscur, The deserted Churchyards, Minnewater: Thousands of Canons, Shadowland, Sirenengesang, in « Shadowland » Esbjerg Ensemble, dir. Jules van Hessen, CD Dacapo, 1998, N° 8.224075

• Bent Sørensen, The Bells of Vineta, Birds and Bells, The deserted Churchyards, Funeral Procession, The Lady and the Lark, The Lady of Shalott, in « Birds and Bells » Christian Lindberg (trombone), Oslo Sinfonietta & Cikada, dir. Christian Eggen, CD ECM, 2005, N° 1665

Other recordings

• Bent Sørensen, Alman, Adieu and Angels' Music, in « String Quartets by Karl Aage Rasmussen & Bent Sørensen » (with 2 pieces by Karl Aage Rasmussen, Arditti String Quartet, 2 CDs DA CAPO, 1990, N° 9003a/9003b

External links

• Bent Sørensen at Edition Wilhelm Hansen (in danish)
• Bent Sørensen official web page (in danish)