Turn / Per Nørgård (1973)
 

    Turn, originally composed for that soft brittle baroque instrument, the clavichord, and one of several preliminary studies for his great Third Symphony for choir and orchestra, marks yet another new beginning in Nørgård’s production. Turn marks the start of Nørgård’s so-called “infinity-rows”, and these together with the natural network of overtones form the basis of arpeggios in which the separate notes are accentuated in turn to form constantly new rhythmic pulsations. The chords vibrate like strings when struck, and together they form a magic echo room, which closes in on itself, as it were, without any appreciable intervention on the part of the composer. The piece is a declaration of love for the universal order and the wealth of regular form in the infinity rows—a piece of “formed” Nature set in resounding motion.
    - Karl Aage Rasmussen

 
   Per Nørgård, born in 1932, started composing as a child and studied with Vagn Holmboe, Finn Høffding and Nadia Boulanger. He has composed in most genres of music: operas, orchestral works (including six symphonies), chamber music, and vocal works. Many distinguished orchestras and institutions have commissioned works from him including, most recently, the BBC Symphony, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Per Nørgård received the Leonie Sonning Music Prize in 1996, on the same day as the publication of a book of essays covering his life and work edited by Anders Beyer, and the world première of his piano Concerto In Due Tempi.