Herman D. Koppel Edition, Vol. 1: Piano Sonatas

Pianist-Composer

By Christian Westergaard and Esben Tange

Born on 1 October 1908, Herman D. Koppel’s life was destined to be entwined with the piano, as his parents, Polish-Jewish immigrants living in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, had already purchased an instrument in anticipation of his arrival. Though they didn’t play themselves, they recognised the allure of a pianist’s career, with its promise of fame and fortune. And so, the piano would be Koppel’s guiding thread all the way until 1995, when, at the age of 86, he played an awe-inspiring concert at the Louisiana Museum of Art with a selection of Carl Nielsen’s great piano works.

Not only was Herman D. Koppel one of his generation’s leading pianists, from his debut in 1930 and for the next 65 years. He also had a fondness for the piano as a composer. Works for solo piano, chamber music, and songs with piano, as well as the four piano concertos, play a major role in Koppel’s extensive list of works. And the two piano sonatas, of which the first is significantly Opus 1 and the second Opus 50, stand as pillars and milestones at the beginning and mid-point of Koppel’s life as a composer.

When Koppel, at the age of 19, composes his Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 1, he has been attending the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen for a couple of years with piano as his principal subject. However, composing is something he teaches himself. Already as an 11–12-year-old, he begins to improvise and compose small piano pieces, which he writes down in thin black music notebooks. As Koppel is trained as a pianist, he also gains insight into music from vastly different eras, and this goes hand in hand with the music he begins to compose.

Even as a teenager, it seems that Koppel lays the foundation for the working method and balance between performance and creation that follows him for the rest of his life. Many years later, in 1966, in the book Musikalske selvportrætter (Musical Self-Portraits), Koppel describes it like this:

‘I am a pianist myself; the interplay between creation and performance is of great significance to me. These things are such integral parts of me that I cannot determine what is most central to me, composition or performance, but I know that I cannot do without either part.’

In the Piano Sonata in E minor, Op. 1 (1928), we are brought close to the world that Herman D. Koppel was a part of as a student at the Royal Academy of Music, and it is striking that he did not play the sonata publicly until more than 50 years later, in 1980, at the request of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). Nevertheless, this is well-crafted music where Koppel not only pays homage to his youthful musical heroes but also lays the groundwork for the future.

In the singing Adagio, which is the movement that Koppel composed first, he reaches out with surprising, skewed intervals towards the jazz music that would become an important part of his musical life in the coming years. The music begins softly, as if Koppel is cautiously exploring a new musical landscape, where bittersweet harmonies herald a new era’s sensitivity, which Koppel would come to explore together with his friend, composer, and music educator Bernhard Christensen.

At the same time, we find ourselves in a Romantic realm, characterised by majestic chords that infuse the music with gravity and depth. This echoes a German musical heritage indebted to Johann Sebastian Bach, where beauty and musical solidity converge. Koppel’s later work would come to embody this interplay between Classical-Romantic foundations and experimental simplicity.

Carl Nielsen’s influence, however, is the most pronounced in Koppel’s Piano Sonata. Interestingly, during the same period in early 1928, Nielsen was composing his final solo piano piece, Three Piano Pieces, Op. 59. The sonata’s opening bars seem to conjure Nielsen’s presence, with subtle, unexpected turns that oscillate between major and minor keys.

The final movement – in Koppel’s own words – has ‘taken strong inspiration from Hindemith’. Indeed, the rhythmic energy and interweaving voices that playfully interact with each other evoke the New Objectivity that Hindemith advocated for, where basic musical elements come to the forefront. Yet, the music retains a unique character that is unmistakably Koppel’s own. With a buoyant, springing melody and sustained musical tension, the finale exudes a sense of adventurous, legendary quality, much like a young pianist setting out on a journey of discovery.

Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 50 (1950, rev. 1956) is Koppel’s most extensive and ambitious solo piano work, with four movements and a playing time more than twice that of his earlier sonata. In the interim, he had composed several symphonies, including Symphony No. 3, written during his exile in Sweden, which Koppel himself described as ‘dark in tone, reflecting the anxiety and concern of wartime’.

Additionally, in 1949, Koppel became deeply interested in the Bible and began composing religious vocal works. He was also part of a flourishing era of Danish solo piano music, led by the younger Niels Viggo Bentzon. As a musical whirlwind, Bentzon burst onto the scene in the 1940s as both a pianist and composer, and with a long series of expressive and grandly conceived piano sonatas, he helped revitalize the genre.

Herman D. Koppel was curious and incorporated several of Bentzon’s works into his repertoire as a pianist. With a dense, tightly woven piano texture and virtuosic passages that build up like a wall, there is a direct line back to Brahms’ monumental and concentrated piano style. And it’s a sound that Koppel knew how to appreciate.

Despite being part of the cultural radical movement, Koppel wrote in a 1933 debate article about Brahms in the Danish Music Journal: ‘Let us not superficially gloss over Romanticism, but rather delve deeply into it and extract its values.’ And that’s precisely what he achieves in his Piano Sonata, Op. 50, around 20 years later.

The first movement throws us into a musical storm, with its insistent character reminiscent of the all-encompassing forces at play in the Old Testament texts that Koppel is now intensely engaged with, and which are incorporated into his contemporary religious works. The second movement, Adagio, finds us in a dreamy, meditative world characterised by solitary, hovering voices, as if a recitative were speaking seriously to the world. And with explosive outbursts towards the end, it’s clear that more is at stake than just a stylistic game. This is music born of an inner necessity, in a time when self-reflection is needed.

Against this backdrop, the third movement marks a new beginning. The indication Tranquillo e flessibile, molto dolce (calm and flexible, very soft) belies music that exudes comfort and reconciliation. The final movement, on the other hand, is a pianistic celebration, where Koppel, with a percussive piano treatment, sends musical thoughts to Sergey Prokofiev, whose nine piano sonatas Koppel admired and had at his fingertips as a pianist.

Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 50 is a culmination. With lavish music, pianist-composer Herman D. Koppel showcases all his piano skills. A technical showcase and an artist’s catalogue. At the same time, Op. 50 is also a conclusion. For with this sonata, Koppel is done cultivating the Classical form in piano music. Now begins a new era with freer forms, where the piano becomes a medium for poetic short forms and variations that reveal new depths of familiar material.