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Denmark
Odense
I traveled to Odense to attend one of the four concerts organized at the Fynske Musikkonservatorium of music by Per Nørgård. This was quite entertaining. Three works on the programme were for solo guitar, Clubs Among Jokers (1989), Returns (1976), and In Memory Of... (1978). Two items were for voice and piano, Nocturnes, Fragment VII (1962) and a collection of six songs. Isternia (1979) was represented in its transcription for marimba by Gert Sørensen. The concert closed with Waves for solo percussion (1969), one of the strongest pieces of Nørgård’s ‘psychedelic’ period.
The following day I had several hours to explore the city. Odense is the the third largest city in Denmark and the major cultural centre of the island of Fyn.
Nonetheless, Odense seemed a quiet little place. Even close to the busy city centre one can find tranquil landscapes.
For me the most remarkable thing about Odense were the old houses in the centre.
It has been several years since I was last a tourist in Western Europe. If one tends to take Cluj as the standard for all things, these elegant and clean houses that all fit together seem almost perverse.
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People actually live in places like this, and even the most ordinary residental areas here feature blocks that aren't too much more modern and urban than this. Nonetheless, it all seemed somehow artificial to me, like Disneyland. Where does the money for all this come from, anyway?