Explore Trygve Madsen’s life in music through films, conversations, personal recollections and reviews. The 2010 anniversary catalogue brings together the voices of musicians, writers and friends who have worked closely with him.
Film and recordings
Meet the composer in an early television portrait and a film made around the recording of Sanger og romanser.
In this ten-minute film, Madsen appears alongside musicians involved in recording his songs and romances. The participants include Julie Kleive, Tora Augestad, Magnus Staveland, Johannes Weisser, Jens Harald Bratlie, Magne Fossum Løvdal and Frode Barth. Tumblewine Films’ filmography dates the documentary to 2023.
Musikk i dag devoted a short programme to Madsen, presented by Eyvind Solås. The Apple TV programme catalogue dates this 14-minute portrait to 15 March 1982. It offers an opportunity to revisit the composer’s earlier presence on Norwegian television.
Open the programme at NRK TV Norwegian
For the music discussed and recorded across these years, visit the recordings catalogue. Among the dedicated releases are Piano Works and 24 Preludes & Fugues, both performed by pianist Jens Harald Bratlie. Each album page provides its programme and links for listening or purchase.
Published in 2010
Musikk-Husets Forlag published Katalogen 2010 for Madsen’s seventieth birthday. Alongside the catalogue of works are twelve contributions about his music, teaching and friendships. Read the English articles individually below, or download the complete catalogue in English, Norwegian or German.
These texts were first published in 2010. Dates, roles and descriptions reflect that time. English translation: Andrew Smith. © 2010 Musikk-Husets Forlag A/S.
For the current catalogue, see the Complete List of Works.
A seventieth-birthday greeting from Madsen’s publisher, tracing his training, commissions, performances and publications up to 2010.
Pianist and composer Wolfgang Plagge writes about Madsen’s musicianship, humour, craftsmanship and communication with performers and audiences.
Frode Barth recalls meeting Madsen on a bus, their friendship and conversations, and the connection between music and visual imagination.
Music historian Preben Albrechtsen traces Shostakovich references across Madsen’s chamber music, piano works, concertos and symphonies.
Gerd Lippold offers a stylistic portrait of Madsen’s music, discussing its traditions, musical references, compositional techniques and expressive range.
Pianist Bjørn Strandvold discusses Madsen’s writing for the piano and recalls their long friendship, performances and collaboration.
Frøydis Ree Wekre recalls her first reading of the Horn Sonata and the commissions, performances and recordings that followed.
Tuba player Michael Lind celebrates his friendship and collaboration with Madsen and lists the works and arrangements they brought about.
Ingebjørg Kosmo and Bjørn E. Simensen recall Madsen’s operas, vocal writing and communication with performers and audiences.
Former students and colleagues recall Madsen’s teaching, practical musicianship, conversations and insistence on writing well for performers.
Artist and writer Thore Hansen tells how a promise over a beer led to decades of score-cover illustrations and a memorable misunderstanding in Cadaqués.
Gerd Lippold shares memories and extracts from thirty years of correspondence, revealing Madsen’s musical interests, reading, humour and friendship.
Interviews and reception
Discover how performers, critics and fellow composers have written about Madsen’s music. These selected appreciations link to the original articles and reviews, with the language and source shown for each.
Composer, librettist and performer meet in Ballade’s interview with Madsen, Jon Bing and baritone Trond Halstein Moe. Published on 4 October 2002 and conducted by Kyrre Tromm Lindvig, the conversation considers the opera’s creation and its life on stage. Madsen places the work in the opera buffa tradition, referring to its satire and comic elements.
Read the interview at Ballade Written interview in Norwegian
Interview and birthday tribute
In this birthday portrait, composers Frode Barth and Marcus Paus describe what Madsen’s music and teaching have meant to them. Paus singles out his distinctive musical voice and his command of counterpoint, placing the preludes and fugues alongside the traditions of Bach and Shostakovich. Barth recalls a friendship that began with an unexpected conversation about composition on the morning bus from Lørenskog.
Read the interview at Ballade
Norwegian
Recording review
Joël Chevassus reviews Jens Harald Bratlie’s recording of the complete piano cycle for 2L. His enthusiastic account follows the variety he hears across the preludes and fugues, with particular affection for their jazz connections. He recommends the double album to listeners interested in discovering new perspectives in contemporary piano music.
Read the review at 6moons
English
Recording review
Guy Engels welcomes german hornsound’s recording with the Bamberg Symphony and Michael Sanderling. Discussing Madsen’s Sinfonia concertante, Op. 153, he praises the invention of a work written for the quartet and its affectionate nod to Richard Strauss. The review also commends the ensemble’s style and commitment across the programme.
Read the review at Pizzicato
German, with an English summary
Performer’s article with audio
Horn player John Ericson chooses Madsen’s Sonata, Op. 24, for his series on favourite twentieth-century horn works. He explains its connection with Schubert and shares recordings of all three movements from his album Canto. This is a performer’s introduction to a work he has chosen to champion on record.
Recording review · newspaper clipping
In a survey of organ recordings, Helge Landmark praises Terje Winge’s playing on Organism. His discussion of Madsen’s Le Tombeau de Dupré draws attention to the work’s humour and its playful relationship with the French organ tradition. The original newspaper page is available as a PDF in LAWO’s press archive.
Read the Vårt Land clipping (PDF)
Norwegian
Recording review
Marc Phillips describes how Organism changed his response to recorded organ music. Reviewing Terje Winge’s programme of Madsen, Kjell Mørk Karlsen and Kjell Flem, he responds warmly to its emotional range and to Morten Lindberg’s recording. His account offers a personal listening perspective on the album as a whole.
Label feature · performers’ perspectives
Published around the release of 24 Preludes & Fugues, this 2L feature traces the project from Madsen’s early piano studies to the completed cycle. Pianist Jens Harald Bratlie discusses the music’s character and the interpretative freedom it gives the performer. Frøydis Ree Wekre offers a warm assessment of the composer she had worked with for almost thirty years.
“capable of establishing a direct link to the listener’s heart”
Frøydis Ree Wekre
Read the feature at 2L
English
Recording review · press excerpt
Genuin reproduces Ronald E. Grames’s recommendation of the album pairing Madsen’s Sinfonia concertante with works by Schumann and Leopold Mozart. Writing in Fanfare, Grames enthusiastically recommends the programme to horn enthusiasts and listeners seeking unfamiliar repertoire. The label’s page includes the excerpt, recording information and audio samples.
“This is an extraordinary disc.”
Ronald E. Grames, Fanfare