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“We have been working on the idea that Sean should make a Recorder Concertos for Michala for 5 years,- and Sean wanted to make a concerto without string! For many years I have been following the students at The Royal Danish Academy of Music,- and I thought they should have a change to make a recording with international profiled artists and producer. Sean wrote a wonderful and different recorder concerto including a lot of percussion,- and Jean Thorel is really a master, as a conductor, to make these young musicians from 11 different countries understand the music,- and to get the best out of all participants! The energy is great,- reminds me of Bolivar Youth Orchestra!” – Lars Hannibal (OUR Recordings)

The featured work on this vinyl maiden voyage is American composer Sean Hickey’s three-movement concerto for recorders, winds, brass and percussion, “A Pacifying Weapon”. Composed as a response to recent, turbulent events, Hickey sought to convey the idea of a “tool or instrument that was capable of providing an instant and irreversible peace.” In turning to the recorder, “an ancient instrument passed down unchanged through the years”, Hickey invoked many aspects of the ancient instrument’s personality, from the bucolic, the melancholic and even the militant.

An extensive percussion battery enjoys second-billing in Hickey’s score, adding both drama and providing an effective foil for the recorder’s solo displays. Sharing honors with both the composer and the soloist are the phenomenally talented ensemble of young musicians from 11 nations, attending the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music, who appear for their very first professional recording under the direction of Jean Thorel. Filling out the program is Thomas Clausen’s charming Neo-Baroque Concertino for recorder and strings, originally released on Nordic Sound – Tribute to Axel Borup-Jørgensen.