Herman D. Koppel (1908-1998)
Piano Works Volumes 1-3
Christian Westergaard (piano)
rec. 2021-22, Studiescenen, Det Kongelige Danske, Musikkonservatorum, Copenhagen
Reviewed as WAV download. Not available as CD. Volumes available separately
Dacapo DACDA2023-25 [110]

Herman D Koppel was a central figure in the Danish music life during the 20^th century, both as pianist and composer. This collection of piano works covers a period of 60 years, from the little Gammel dans, written by a tender 16-year-old candidate for entrance to the Royal Academy of Music  – he was admitted on advice from an enthusiastic Carl Nielsen – to three pieces from 1984. But he continued to compose well into his mid-eighties; his Memory for string orchestra was published in 1994, when he was 86. 

I have to admit that my acquaintance with his music is very limited, although I was well aware of his excellence as a pianist, having very early enjoyed listening to him accompanying the great Aksel Schiøtz in several of his recordings from the 1930s and -40s. Thus, I was really treading virgin soil when I started listening to these volumes of his piano works. It is far from the complete œuvre in this category, but it gives a good picture of his creative mind, which both puzzles me and entices me. 

The aforementioned Gammel dans is in no way representative of his tonal language, apart from the fact that it shows an interest in Danish folk music. This in its turn can be related to one of his most important sources of inspiration, Carl Nielsen. Nielsen was certainly a leading modernist, but some of his most popular works – many of his songs and his last choral work Fynsk Foraar (Springtime on Funen) – are deeply rooted in the Scandinavian national-Romantic tradition. Others are also essential models: Prokofiev, Bartok (he heard him playing his sonata in Copenhagen in 1929), Brahms, Les Six as well as the second Viennese school. But he also changed his mind with the passing of time. He loathed Schoenberg to begin with but ended up playing his complete œuvre in concert. Overall, he promoted many contemporary composers, Danish as well as foreign. He really was broad-minded. 

The sonata in E minor from 1928 was an apprentice work, composed when was 19. Here is a sample of influences, picked up but not yet fully assimilated. It is harmonically bold and rhythmically brave and revolutionary (the relatively newly arrived jazz music fascinated him), and it is technically advanced (he was a virtuoso). A lot of the playing feels improvisatory and the concluding rondo points forward to his many miniatures, of which we are treated to in the second and third volume. There, he is humoristic and mischievous. However, he obviously realised that this was an apprentice work by a budding student, still in training, and he never played the sonata – until 1980, more than 50 years after its creation. Or maybe he realised that the time was not yet ripe for the public. 

It is also symptomatic that he titled it only Sonata in E-minor Op. 1 and saved  Sonata No. 1 for the sonata he wrote 20 years later and revised in 1956. This a large-scale work, more than double the length of the previous one, with a playing time of 33 minutes in this recording, which makes it his largest piano work. There is reason to state that it also is his greatest work for piano. Here, we meet the mature composer, and I was overwhelmed by it from the very beginning. The four movement structure is of course very traditional, and the opening allegro takes more than twelve minutes, but it never feels overlong. It is monumental and hefty, and it wallows in sonorities – call it intoxication if you like, or ecstasy – in both cases without drugs – unless music can be regarded as such. After these eruptions, the adagio comes as an antidote: tranquil, rather gloomy, apart from a short episode near the end, but it ends in the same mood as it begins. The intermezzo is also pensive and serious, maybe a reflection of his then newly awakened interest in the Bible. The rondo finale on the other hand no doubt reflects his admiration of Prokofiev’s sonatas, which he had in his concert repertoire. With its combination of abruptness and burlesque humour, it is a grandiose conclusion of the sonata. 

The remaining two volumes contain what could be summarised as miniatures from various periods of his life. That is not to say that the music lacks substance – quite the contrary in fact – but most of the pieces are very brief. The eleven movements of the very early Variations and Fugue for Piano Op. 3 for instance, take a mere 6:50 to get through, but in that time we are served a double handful of thrilling snippets, rhythmically and/or harmonically interesting –  some commentators found them provocative, which induced Koppel to withhold the work from publication for more than 50 years – the same fate that also befell the E minor sonata. Still the concluding Fugue, the only movement of some length, is masterly. 

The 15 Miniatures, composed in 1976, are similarly fragmented, though less extremely so, and they are interconnected harmonically, “partly inspired by Balinese gamelan music”, I learn from the excellent liner notes. Once one has got used to Koppel’s individual harmonic world it evokes a special spell on the listener that is difficult to free oneself from, and having listened to all three volumes within a short time span, I’m now imbued with this spell and long to return to it. 

Inserted between these two longer works is a Pastorale, composed in 1942. This was a dark time in Denmark. The country was occupied by the Nazis, and when the persecution of the Jews started – Koppel was Jewish – he and his family and some 8 000 other Jews managed to flee across the Sound to Sweden at the last minute. The Pastorale is dedicated to Lis Jacobsen, a friend of the family, who generously let Koppel and his family stay in her holiday house for several years. The Pastorale is a charming little work, breathing light and peace and total harmony. 

In volume 3 music from Koppel old age is again juxtaposed with juvenile sins. Gammel dans has already been mentioned, and the ten pieces are also from the pre-marital years. They are surprisingly simple, sometimes exotic, often elegant and rhythmical. Many of the miniatures from his later years are character pieces with evocative titles, and a relaxed maturity. One work from the early 1930s stands out. It is the three-movement Suite for Piano, Op. 21, clearly influenced by Bartók. It is rather aggressive and repetitive but continuously surprising and stimulating. Like all the other works in this compilation it is played sensitively and technical mastery, and the recording is impeccable. The three volumes are only available as downloads with separate booklets, and for those who want to sample I recommend buying Vol. 3 as a starter, as I believe it is the easiest accessible. But the whole project is a great achievement, which can be recommended for those who want to investigate something off the beaten track.

Göran Forsling

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Volume 2

Volume 3

Contents
Vol. 1 Piano Sonatas (1928–56) 
Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 1 (1928)
Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 50 (1950, rev. 1956)
Dacapo DAC-DA2023 [48]

Vol. 2: Piano Variations (1929–76) 
Variations and Fugue for Piano, Op. 3 (1929)
Pastorale for Piano (1942) 
15 Miniatures, Op. 97a (1976)
Dacapo DAC-DA2024 [28]

Vol. 3: Piano Suites (1933–88) 
Gammel dans (Old Dance) (1924) 
10 Piano Pieces, Op. 20 (1930s)
From 26 Small Piano Pieces, Op. 111 (1983–84) 
Piano Piece,Op. 7: Allegro (1930)
Suite for Piano, Op. 21 (1934)
From 50 Short Piano Pieces, Op. 99 (1977)
Dacapo DAC-DA2025 [34]