Trygve Madsen: 24 Preludes & Fugues - Jens Harald Bratlie

TRYGVE MADSEN's music is friendly, full of humour, beautiful, elegant and capable of establishing a direct link to the listeners heart! What is new in Trygve Madsen's Preludes & Fugues compared with Shostakovich's? Apart from the indefinable element of musical personality Madsen's music is influenced by twentieth century jazz and evergreens as much as it is by Bach. 

"A substantial work offering considerable musical revenue," says pianist Jens Harald Bratlie who has recorded Madsen's music on this CD. "It is full of excellent themes and motifs so well moulded together that they immediately give musical meaning full of life and character. Despite the total lack of performance instructions the music is clearly shaped, offering many opportunities for variation."

Trygve Madsen stands on the shoulders of two giants whom he honours in more or less obvious ways: A hidden tribute is to be found in motifs derived from Bach's and Shostakovich's names; the last fugue (no. 24) has a theme consisting of the notes D, E flat, C, B, B flat, A C, B; in Norwegian these notes are written d, ess, c, h, b, a, c, h - a combination of "D-S-c-h" (from the German spelling 'Dmitri Schostakowitsch') and "B-a-c-h". Both composers used their own names in this form in their music. And, in a final symbolic tribute, Madsen's last fugue - and thereby the entire work - ends with this theme.

A comparison of Shostakovich's and Madsen's C major preludes illustrates the difference: both pieces are sarabandes, composed in baroque style. Madsen, however, introduces a syncopation in the second bar which immediately gives the music a jazz feel. Madsen's prelude is just as much a jazz ballad, evoking the combined spirits of J.S. Bach and Oscar Peterson. The jazz influence is particularly audible in the B flat major prelude (no. 23); this is pure jazz! Latin-American rhythms can be heard in the G major prelude (no. 17) which is in the form of a habanera or a tango, depending on the performer's choice of tempo.

In Shostakovich's work there are tempo indications and dynamic markings. Madsen, however, has deliberately omitted such instructions, leaving the choice of tempo and dynamics to the performer. In this he follows Bach's example - and perhaps that of the jazz tradition, too, in which the performer's freedom of choice is an important aspect.

Total Playing Time 102 minutes

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