Reviews

Vang Granitbrud, Bornholm, Denmark

Martin Lohse’s “Echoes off Cliffs” was an electroacoustic tribute to Bornholm – and to the echo – that framed the eternally tantalizing question: Where does the sound go when it goes out?
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23 June 2021 – Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek


American Record Guide Nov/Dec 2018

… It takes considerable willpower not to rewind to the beginning when it finishes…
… Like the rest of Lohse’s works on the album, it is a delight.
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1 December 2018 – Nathan Faro


Facebook – review … external link

Lohse’s melodic and generously consonant polystylistic music is fashioned out of modules that are carefully combined and recombined into a warm, slightly melancholic post-minimalism, built upon deceptively complex textures.

… This is a truly lovely new symphony that eloquently speaks an accessible language …
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14 May 2020 – Joshua Cheek


NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY … external link

… Lohse’s triptych Passing begins with a similarly circling if almost marionettishly pulsing allegro section. The steady, moonlit waltz that follows is deliciously ominous; the concluding variation is 180 degrees the opposite until that same resonance is artfully interpolated amidst the starry, flitting optimism.
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17 October 2018 – Delarue


Accordions Worldwide April 2018 … external link

… Fresh music, contemporary but not excessively “intellectual” and not at all hermetic, indeed sincere and communicative, often captivating, which show strong roots with the great Western “classical” tradition; a happy combination, just like in Scarlatti, of lightness and playfulness with passion and solemnity.
… Music that surely reconciles the audience with contemporary “cultured” music and that undoubtedly enrichs the specific repertoire for the accordion.
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29 March 2018 – Alessandro Mugnoz


Review Corner … external link

We’re not often taken aback in the Review Corner (at least not in a good way) but such an event has occurred with this new programme of accordion music…

…The best recommendation is that we managed to write this down fairly quickly, being immediately taken with it, but have contained playing the CD since (and on and on). A delightful collection of music.
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20 September 2018 – Jerobear


MusicWeb International … external link

… Lohse has given this (work) the lovely title Moto immoto (Motionless motion), an apt oxymoron that utterly encapsulates this short, heartfelt piece…
… it certainly affected this reviewer in those terms – and easily bears repeated listening. It is revealing that this ten-minute panel lasts not a moment too long.
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1 August 2018 – Richard Hanlon


Politiken, Kultur bagsiden … external link

“This release will convert the skeptic to new classical music”

“It may well be that you are not going to be religious, if you invest in this release from Gateway Music. On the other hand, there is some risk that you will be reversed and start listening to contemporary music.”

– translation from danish –
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11 August 2015 – Thomas Michelsen


David’s Review Corner … external link

…and my favourite, …, is the technical excellence required for the three movements of Passing, her finger dexterity of prodigious virtuosity. The delicate colours that can be achieved from the instrument comes in the central part of Menuetto…
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1 August 2018 – David Denton


International Record Review (July-August 2012)

… I don’t recall previously hearing any music by the Hans Abrahamsen-student Martin Lohse (b.1971) – painter and poet as well as composer – but I shall certainly be keeping my ears open from now on, since his 16-minute In Liquid… is unassertively lovely…
… Lohse knows how to caress the ear and stimulate the mind at the same time: In Liquid … is all the more touching for the understatement of its emotional burden. …
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6 July 2012 – Martin Anderson


ArkivMusic … external link

… Poignant reflection and tragic depiction infuse Martin Lohse’s ‘Menuetto’ and ‘The Little Match Girl’ (dedicated to Hanzhi Wang), while his post-minimalist ‘Passing’ series forms adventurous mobiles of dancing light…
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1 October 2018 – ArkivMusic


Wholenote Magazine … external link

… Martin Lohse’s In Liquid (2008/2010) is one of the most original works for accordion I have ever heard. Mogensen makes his brutal technical part sound so easy in this quasi minimalistic exercise in shifting fluid breathtaking sounds. …
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29 June 2012 – Tiina Kiik


San Francisco Chronicle … external link

How’s this for an improbable turn of events: The most beautiful, dramatic and sheerly irresistible disc of new music to cross my desk in months is a compilation of four Scandinavian accordion concertos….

… The newer works are even more striking – Anders Koppel’s Concerto Piccolo begins with an eerie dreamscape that will give you chills, while Martin Lohse’s In Liquid covers a range of styles without abandoning its distinctive and forceful voice.
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13 May 2012 – Joshua Kosman


La Scena Musicale … external link

If you thought the best way to kill a dinner party is to play modern Nordic concertos on the accordion, think again. Bjarke Morgensen’s set by Schmidt, Koppel, Lohse and Norgard, neither lugubrious nor autistic, fizz like an aural set of Northern Lights. Weird and scintillating stuff.
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30 April 2012 – Norman Lebrecht


The Globe and Mail (Canada) … external link

… We also love the ooze and slide of Martin Lohse’s In Liquid
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30 April 2012 – Elissa Poole


WRUW Reviews … external link

Mostly modern and contemporary Danish works for accordion and orchestra. No oompah here, mostly gentle and lyrical. Nice!
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30 April 2012 – WRUV Reviews


Gramophone … external link

… Matin Lohse’s subtle interplay of soloist and orchestra across four movements of varied mood and tempo gives In Liquid… a more individual profile than its Pärt-meets-Glass amalgam might suggest. …
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1 July 2012 – Richard Whitehouse


mitFyn.dk … external link

Lykkeligt match

10 års samarbejde mellem Bjarke Mogensen og den danske komponist Martin Lohse har resulteret i en fin udgivelse med Lohses på én gang minimalistiske, melodiøse musik, som overraskende nok er moderne kompositionsmusik fra dette århundrede. Nogle er omskrevne tidligere værker, andre nykomponerede til Bjarke Mogensen. Lyst og venligt, men også indadvendt og mørkt, hans sans for udnyttelse af instrumentets trods alt begrænsede muligheder ligger i de ofte sindrigt udtænkte rytmiske lag, der som et “perpetuum mobile” udvikler sig og overrasker. Bjarke Mogensens suveræne spil gør oplevelsen stor, og ved flere aflytninger øges glæden. Cyklus-titler som “Passing” og “Momentum” synes velegnede og udtrykker sigende musikkens væsen, sammen med små menuetter eller de seks præludier, som er mere end blot forspil til noget andet.
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10 September 2015 – Mikael Krarup


Fyens Stiftstidende … external link

… Martin Lohses let minimalistiske stil (2008) matcher accordeonens mange muligheder og især Bjarke Mogensens talentfulde spil glimrende. …

Google translation Martin Lohses light minimalist style (2008) match the accordions many possibilities and especially Bjarke Mogensen talented play brilliantly.
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11 April 2012 – Mikael Garnæs


Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten … external link

Den unge akkordeon-djævel Bjarke Mogensen springer frem med gennemslagskraft og ypperlig teknik i Schmidts skarptskårne symfoniske fantasi og både fræser og gynger derudaf i de næste to koncerter.

Google translation
The young accordion-devil Bjarke Mogensen leap forward with vigor and excellent technique in Schmidt’s clean-cut symphonic fantasy, and both swings and cutter along in the next two concerts.
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30 March 2012 – Jens Povlsen


Infodad.com … external link

… Two of the pieces here, Anders Koppel’s Concerto Piccolo (2009) and Martin Lohse’s In Liquid… (2008/2010), were specifically written for Mogensen, and it is easy to see why. He seems able to make the accordion into something it does not naturally appear to be: an instrument of considerable emotional range, tonal impact and sonic beauty. Both Koppel and Lohse demand accordion playing that is not only virtuosic but also refined and emotive, and Mogensen delivers it with seeming effortlessness throughout both pieces. …
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10 May 2012 – The Infodad Team