Rasmus Schjærff Kjøller, the accordionist on this album, is an internationally recognized musician whose repertoire spans from Baroque to contemporary music, and he is one half of the award-winning duo MYTHOS.
Critical Reception
Birgitte Alsted has received numerous grants and prizes, including the Major Prize for a Woman Composer of the Danish Arts Foundation in 2011 for her work "Agnete's Laughter."
Compositional Technique
Birgitte Alsted's electro-acoustic music combines sampled sounds from real life with electronically generated and manipulated sounds, blurring the historical distinction between concrete and electronic music.
Composer Biography
Birgitte Alsted, the composer, studied violin at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen and later earned a master's degree in electronic music composition in 2006.
Composition History
The work "Agnete's Laughter" is based on the folk ballad "Agnete and the Merman," but offers a different interpretation from Hans Christian Andersen's poem on the same subject.
Notable Performances
Birgitte Alsted's "Agnete's Laughter" premiered at Højbro Plads in Copenhagen in 2007, interacting with Suste Bonnén's underwater sculpture of the Merman and his seven sons.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Birgitte Alsted's compositions are often inspired by other art forms, such as visual arts and theatre, and frequently incorporate a strong narrative element.
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