Transfigurations – Three Concertos

Three recent concertos by Danish composer Poul Ruders, each pairing a historically associated solo instrument with a contemporary ensemble, make up this OUR Recordings release. The recorder takes the lead in Transfigurations (2022), a “double portrait” in two nearly identical movements that travel in different directions. The solo part is a relay run through tenor, soprano, alto and sopranino recorders, written after a yearlong correspondence with Michala Petri and premiered with Kremerata Baltica in Latvia. A Movable Concerto (2023) is a set of five short pieces for positive organ and strings. Ruders wrote it from a childhood memory of Handel playing organ concertos between the parts of his oratorios, and it carries “doctored” Handel quotations and a passage that mimics a Dutch street organ.

The Concerto for Harpsichord and Symphony Orchestra (2019) closes the program. Ruders compares it to restoration architecture, in which old structures gain new purpose. It uses carefully controlled electronic amplification to place the harpsichord alongside a full modern orchestra, with a finale that Ruders teases listeners to wait for. It was recorded live in Aarhus under Leif Segerstam, one of his final recordings, in the DXD format.

Michala Petri, recorder (Transfigurations)
Kremerata Baltica
Andris Veismanis, conductor

Peter Navarro-Alonso, positive organ (A Movable Concerto)
Kremerata Baltica
Andris Veismanis, conductor

Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord (Concerto for Harpsichord and Symphony Orchestra)
Aarhus Symphony Orchestra
Leif Segerstam, conductor