Bjarke Mogensen is
an astonishment on record.
Once heard, never forgotten.
Norman Lebrecht, Arts Journal
Born and raised on the Island of Bornholm, Bjarke Mogensen quickly made a name for himself as an internationally acclaimed accordion virtuoso and as a versatile musician with a keen ear for different styles.
At the age of 13 he made his solo debut with the Munich Symphony Orchestra in a German TV broadcast with millions of viewers. Since then a great curiosity and search for new sounds and expressions has taken him on musical paths where few other musicians have ventured before as a highly sought-after soloist in the classical music world.
All my life I have admired, studied and performed the music of the extraordinary Argentinian composer, Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992).
So, when I was offered the chance to publish a whole instrumental Piazzolla album of my own for the centenary of his birth, I decided to base my tribute solely on Piazzolla titles but also dived headlong into designing a varied and comprehensive listening experience, an hour of interchanging accordion solos, instrumental duos, and pieces that I arranged for myself and a small group of mixed instruments.
The music is all Astor but with a touch of Bjarke here and there and maybe everywhere, in fact. There are no singers involved, but Piazzolla’s music sings, and our instruments sing, and at every corner there is melancholy, tripping feet, fast figures, and perhaps even the scent and atmosphere of Buenos Aires.
