Search - Schneider, Zeuthen, Amalie Malling :: Otto Malling: Piano Concerto

Otto Malling was a dominant figure in Danish musical life at the end of the 19th century, in that long gap between Gade and Nielsen. He was a musical conservative whose idiom never changed very much, but who wrote music that is not especially the weaker for the fact it could have been written at any point in the previous 50 years. The C Minor Piano Concerto and A minor trio are both attractive works that spin delicate yet vigorous conversations out of comparatively slight material--there are no surprises here, but some real charm, particularly in the concerto's final rondo. Amalie Malling makes the music fresh and gives it all the passion she can find in it; both concerto and trio get affectionate performances, which make this a worthwhile record--it sounds like a disc people wanted to make out of sheer love, not the arbitrary resurrection of the deservedly forgotten. --Roz Kaveney