Per Salo is one of the leading pianists in Denmark and he is very active both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. New works along with works from the well-known classic piano literature are represented in his repertoire with an emphasis on contemporary music. Since 1989 he has held the position as pianist and organist in the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

About Per Salo

Per Salo was born 1962; he trained both as an organist and as a pianist at The Royal Danish Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen; furthermore, he holds a Master’s degree as a pianist from The Juilliard School of Music in New York, USA. Salo is an adventurous musician with an impressively large repertoire. He has played concerts all over the World and has made numerous recordings.

Repertoire

Per Salo’s repertoire is very extensive. As an organist his favorite composers are Bach, César Franck and Olivier Messiaen. As a pianist he has played music by all the classical composers, however Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Chopin and Debussy have been the ones closest to his heart. Furthermore he has always felt drawn towards contemporary music – especially from Denmark. Carl Nielsen, Niels Viggo Bentzon and Per Nørgård are three important names.

In his job in The Danish National Symphony Orchestra he has played nearly all organ and piano parts in the orchestral repertoire. Some highlights could be Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphony, Strawinski’s Petrushka, Saint-Saen’s Organ Symphony, Ive’s 4th Symphony, Strauss’ Alpine Symphony etc.

Current

Recordings

Niels Viggo Bentzon The Tempered Piano

NVB

The Tempered Piano
Allan Gravgaard Madsen Gudmundsen-Holmgreen Nachtmusik – for Violin and Orchestra

Gravgaard Madsen

Nachtmusik
Per Nørgård – Piano Concerto Concerto in Due Tempi – Symphony Nr 3

Per Nørgård

Concerto in Due Tempi

Arranger

In addition to his activities as a pianist Per Salo is a very active arranger. Over the years he has rearranged a large number of classical works. He has rescored symphonic works and piano pieces into chamber music, turned chamber music into pieces for solo instrument and orchestra, symphonic scores into piano scores and many other combinations.

And with his long experience as a musician he considers it a natural and logical part of his own musicianship to create scores that honor all the intentions of the composer but at the same time meet the demands and wishes of a professional player. This work Per Salo finds very important; his own long experience as a pianist has proven to him the importance of playing from only the best scores.

Chamber music

Chamber music plays an important role in Per Salo’s repertoire; since 1996 he has formed a duo with violinist Christina Åstrand under the name Duo Salo/Åstrand. They have given numerous concerts and have released several highly praised and award-winning CDs. Over the years the duo has strived to broaden the knowledge of Danish music abroad; hence one finds recordings of music by Danish composers such as Carl Nielsen, N W Gade and Friedrich Kuhlau and even by international composers such as Maurice Ravel, Leos Janacek and György Ligeti.

Bentzon Prelude & Fugue E Major

Niels Viggo Bentzon: Prelude & Fugue in E Major from The Tempered Piano (book 8)

Bentzon Prelude & Fugue G Minor
Janacek Violin Sonata