PRE-ORDER: Christina Bjorkoe - Per Norgard: Rare Pno Works [CD], Christina Bjorkoe, CD

Per Norgard (1932-2025) is best known for his symphonies, but he started out composing at the family grand piano. Much of his piano music was written as gifts for friends, and on this double album Christina Bjorkoe records many of the pieces for the first time. Working backwards from 2013 to 1951, she moves from April showers in 'May on It's Way' and the gamelan gongs of 'Many Returns to Bali' to a tango for a hermit crab and music from the film 'Babette's Feast'. The album ends where it all began, with 'Partita severa', which Norgard wrote at 19 for his teacher Vagn Holmboe: severe in name and form, youthful in spirit.