Langgaard's Lyre

[DavidW]

Do you ever get tired of seeing modern tonal composers characterized as rebels against the establishment?  What we have is artists individually creating the music they enjoy.

[Dax]

Er . . . Langgaard died in 1952. Does that make him "modern"?

[karlhenning]

Do you ever get tired of seeing modern tonal composers characterized as rebels against the establishment?  What we have is artists individually creating the music they enjoy.

The overused complementary adjectives which a great friend of mine in San Diego loves to hate are challenging and accessible : )

[DavidW]

Er . . . Langgaard died in 1952. Does that make him "modern"?

Yes he does first part of 20th century = modern.

[karlhenning]

Yes, modern is reasonable for Langgaard.

Just not contemporary ; )

[DavidW]

The overused complementary adjectives which a great friend of mine in San Diego loves to hate are challenging and accessible : )

If anything it's just a stereotype since the hidden assumption is that all tonal works are accessible and all atonal works are challenging.   Stupid critics!

[Mirror Image]

If anything it's just a stereotype since the hidden assumption is that all tonal works are accessible and all atonal works are challenging.   Stupid critics!

Speaking of critics, I like this quote about critics by Sibelius: "Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic."

[DavidW]

Yeah I think that is Gurn's personal text right now.  It's a perfect quote.  You hear that Hurwitz?  PERFECT.   Joking, I have no problem with Hurwitz.

[vandermolen]

Listening to 'The Music of the Spheres' (Frandsen DRSO) - what an extraordinary, hypnotic work for1918. I have ordered the new Dacapo version with Thomas Dausgaard as I'd like to hear what he makes of it in a modern version and the coupling 'Into the Abyss' sounds just my cup of tea!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

 
Speaking of critics, I like this quote about critics by Sibelius: "Pay no attention to what the critics say. A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic."

Not quite true, as Sibelius should have known: a statue was erected in Copenhagen to honour the great Danish critic Georg Brandes. He was key in promoting, among others, Ibsen and Nietzsche to the Western world.

[karlhenning]

. . . He was key in promoting, among others, Ibsen and Nietzsche to the Western world.

And you're telling us they haven't torn that statue down yet? ; )

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

And you're telling us they haven't torn that statue down yet? ; )

It's a small statue opposite the Statens Museum. His detractors may have overlooked it...

[karlhenning]

Or even the Anti-Nietszcheans have mistaken him for a train conductor memorial . . . .

[Lethevich]

I've just had my brain assaulted by his fifth symphony. I love the way that it's such music for the sake of music - exceptionally Romantic, and theoretically it's "about" something, but just listening to it offers a really incredible journey to absolutely nowhere. It doesn't feel challenging to me in the way, say, Strauss does, despite being of a related mould (although by now harmonically Langgard's music is more individual). It's hard to explain, but it can feel as if with Strauss, you're actually taken to the place the composer wants you to go, you feel it viscerally, and afterwards you are changed or moved to some extent. With Langgaard I love the experience, but I don't feel that I have really been a part of the music - it seems to be the product of a mind not operating by the same rules as my own. It is sort of like looking at a painting, then moving on to another - especially as his symphonies can be so different in feel.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Interesting observations, Sarah. 'Not being part of the music'... There is something impersonal about Langgaard's music, that's true. As if he doesn't make music, but the music makes itself through him. But at the same time there is that unmistakable Langgaard 'feel'. I'm searching through my own memories of L.'s works to see whether I feel personally involved... Yes, but not every work. The one symphony that I always find very touching is the very last one. The Sixteenth seems a final summing-up of Langgaard the romantic conservative. The final bars, to my ears, are grimly triumphant, and they never fail to give me a 'lift'... So, perhaps there is something in my mind more attuned to L.'s mental processes...

[Lethevich]

I come close to this kind of connection in his fifteenth - it has such an irresistable sweep, but also a certain quantitative atmosphere. In the sixteenth I've always had trouble following the progression of the movements - maybe my subconscious searching out for a high classical period sonata form. I find the composer irresistable to listen to, so I'll crack it eventually I am sure...

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Funny you should be so in tune with the Fifteenth. A strange work, in only two movements, the second one choral. The first movement is terrific, one of his best, but the second does nothing for me...

Re the progression of the Sixteenth - there isn't any. All the movements are aspects of the opening idea.

[karlhenning]

My friends, you're making my ears itch to revisit those . . . but I cannot until tomorrow! : )

[Sylph]

Apparently, he wrote a tone poem Sphinx. Has that been recorded?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Yes. It's on the CD with symphonies 10, 11 and 12 under Stupel (Danacord). And perhaps in the Dausgaard box, too.


Checked: yes.