Noget om kraft - Something About Power
Published 2022-07-20
English translation: pastebin.com/mKFQg2nP
Halfdan Rasmussen/Mogens Jermiin Nissen:
1): Noget om afslapning/About Relaxation
2): Noget om kraft/Something About Power
Frank Jæger/Tony Vejslev:
3): April, April
4): Påske/Easter
A few days ago, I found this recording from my younger days, and because I love these poems and the melodies, I would like to share them with “the world”. I am especially sad to realize that the original melody of Noget om kraft has been replaced in the memory of the Danish people by another tune, which is nice but not at all supportive of the power of the poem.
Moreover, I knew both these composers, and Mogens was very pleased with my arrangement of his piano scores for guitar, and he was sad (he told me in a conversation) because he was in doubt that he had created anything of value. I want to credit him – therefore these recordings.
Tony was wonderful, when he sang his own tunes to the poems of his friend Frank Jæger (there is a recording of this). When he first heard me sing when I was around 20, he told me directly that he did not find I was able to sing those songs - but with time we got to know each other and he and his wife invited me into their home. As for Halfdan I had the great pleasure to sing some of his songs for him, he seemed very approving and gave me his autograph twice (smiley).
Apart from my voice, you hear the beautiful soprano of Hanne Kryger Sørensen, who was my fiancée at the time of the recording (approx. 1978). This was a birthday present for my mother.
The photo is from 1983, and I had just returned from my trekking experience in Nepal (see video • Trekking in Nepal 1983 ). Hence the beard.
I am glad also to have a memory of the sound of my wonderful Schlünsen guitar (no.378 – built in 1965 for Ulrik Neumann, who in the end chose another one). It drowned, unfortunately, due to heavy rainfall in 2011 which flooded the basement.