Bjarke Mogensen is
an astonishment on record.
Once heard, never forgotten.

Arts Journal

ABOUT

Glad to Welcome You

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.

Album for Astor – a Piazzolla tribute album (2022)

The new Piazzolla album has arrived!

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.

About the album:

‘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.’

News

Concertos and Movements – new album recent concert reviews

CISTERNERNE: BJARKE MOGENSEN – CONCERT IN THE EXHIBITION »PSYCHOSPHERE«

AF LOUISE STEIWER

“Mogensen’s accordion is in constant dialogue with the space; he calls, and the dark colonnades answer back — or is it the other way around? His Passage crackles, snaps, and crunches like stones being broken.”…
“The audience sits petrified, completely absorbed in the sound, as Mogensen masterfully makes his instrument sound like everything from a rapid breath to a thunderclap.”…
“Mogensen, with his versatile taste and command of tone, stretches time itself in the Cisterns. Long tones bloom in the vast reverberation while his short, pearling attacks ricochet like marble against stone.”…

Full article:

https://seismograf.org/kortkritik/composition-stone-walls

 

The Arts Desk, David Nice:

DSCH

“The decision to entrust the limpid neoromantic Andante of the Second Piano Concerto (Shostakovich) to Mogensen’s extreme sensitivity is one of many moving surprises.”

Full article:

https://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/concert-theatre-dsch-norwegian-co-oslo-opera-house-scene-2-review-shostakovich-choreographed

 

Klassik-Heute:

“Mogensen commands both musical worlds with astonishing assurance. In Shamo’s cycle he draws a warm, almost cello-like depth from the accordion, giving the instrument a richness usually reserved for strings. His phrasing lets the polyphony breathe as if a grand organ were at work.”

Emotional Intimacy

“In the Aria, Mogensen shapes vibrating register shifts and deliberate breaths into vocal snapshots of piercing intimacy. The Toccata reveals finger-breaking precision and rhythmic force, turning the accordion into a machine of orchestral density without losing clarity.”

Versatility & Dialogue

“In Koppel’s movements, an entirely different side emerges: Mogensen modulates attack and expression, colliding melodic lines with percussive blows. He builds a dialogue with the ensemble that goes far beyond mere accompaniment.”

Stefan Pieper [12.11.2025]

Full reveiw:

http://www.klassik-heute.de/4daction/www_medien_einzeln?id=25255

 

Magasinet Klassisk:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Winter Steps and Summer Skies (2025)
Bjarke Mogensen (akkordeon),
Toke Møldrup (cello).
Gateway Music (CD)

At lytte til ‘Winter Steps and Summer Skies’ er ligesom at være til bords i en rigtig godt stemt Michelin-restaurant: Alt, som i alt, på CD’en er kvalitet og serveret med omhu, fra kompositionerne over spil til mix.

Malene Rønnow

Med instrumenter, der sjældent mødes, får to genier det hele til at svæve
Nyt album fra duo, som leger sammen med udgangspunkt i jazz og klassisk, er fremragende.
THOMAS MICHELSEN, POLITIKEN

Bjarke Mogensen og Mathias Heise: Flux.
Gateway Music.
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

De spiller en masse i København og på Sjælland nu i januar og februar, duoen Mathias Heise og Bjarke Mogensen. Kombinationen af instrumenter, de dyrker – mundharmonika og akkordeon – er utraditionel, men oplagt.

Hvorfor? Fordi de laver lyd på samme måde. Den kromatiske mundharmonika, som jazzmusikeren Mathias Heise er verdensmester på, og akkordeonet, der er en harmonika for viderekomne, fungerer begge ved, at luft blæses hen over metaltunger, som sættes i bevægelse og vibrerer.

Spiller de så jazz eller klassisk?
Svaret er nok mest jazz, selv om der på Mathias Heises hjemmeside, hvor man kan se en oversigt over deres koncerter plus deres præsentationsvideo, står »jazz meets classic«. Og sandt er det, at de to efter det minimalistisk virtuose, genre­uafhængige titelnummer »Flux« fortsætter med stykker af Debussy.

Heise er jazzmand. Mogensen er klassisk uddannet. Begge er geniale instrumentalister, og hvis noget står fra albummet, er det, at de nyder at bruge deres overskud til at mødes og løfte hinanden.

Så skidt med genrerne. Mathias Heise fraserer, så alle jazzfans vil føle sig godt tilpas. Man hører det på hans ballade »Voices in the Dark«, hvor han også viser sine evner som jazzpianist, inden parret bytter roller, så Mogensens akkordeon akkompagnerer Heises mundharmonika.

En lille choro af brasiliansk musiks grand old man, Hermeto Pascoal, løfter stemningen yderligere og viser begge musikeres formåen.
Heises egen »Café Cubano« fortsætter det svimlende, men fanger også en jazzet jordforbindelse, før intimstemning indgår i det avancerede, men fængende arrangement.

Nogle er mere vilde med jazze Bach, end jeg er. Her spiller duoen en »Adagio« af gamle Johann Sebastian med følsomhed. Men stadig med den spændstighed, der er kendetegnende for albummet. Et par af numrene er skrevet af Bjarke Mogensen, som møder Heise på hans hjemmebane, mens han sørger for skarphed i akkompagnementet, så kollegaen kan svæve.

Melodierne smelter som chokolade på tungen. Mogensens funky nummer »Heist« åbner virkelig for det musikalske flow. Der er også et par numre af salig Bent Fabricius-Bjerre, som førte de to musikere sammen.

Det markerer duoen ved at spille den vemodige Brecht-vals »The Immigrant«, inden »Norwegian Sunset« viderefører folketonen fra albummets elegante Mogensen-bearbejdelse af en folkemelodi fra akkordeonspillerens fødeø, Bornholm, og lader solen sænke sig over et album, der godt kunne lokke mig til koncert. To genier kombinerer to instrumenter, der sjældent mødes, så genre- og kassettænkning fordamper. Fordi deres klange smelter så fint sammen, og fordi begge musikere har et overskud, der virkelig løfter alt materialet på »Flux«.

2022 POLITIKEN

“Bjarke Mogensen mestrer at invitere publikum ind i musik, der ellers kan virke fremmed, og gør oplevelsen levende gennem sit engagerede ansigts- og kropssprog

https://politiken.dk/kultur/art8258330/På-fynsk-herregård-går-de-konsekvent-efter-det-bedste