Langgaard's Lyre

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Music of the Spheres is fabulous, indeed, and quite exceptional, too, in Langgaard's oeuvre. His works are usually more conservative, but always quirky, inventive and fiery. As I have already said several times here on GMG, I prefer the Stupel readings of the symphonies, though not in the works where Danish is sung, then Dausgaard is better. Symphonies 4, 5 and 6 are excellent under Järvi (Chandos).

[lescamil]

Our friend at 5against4 has posted the recent Proms performance of Ixion (Symphony No. 11) here:

http://5against4.com/2012/08/04/proms-2012-rued-langgaard-symphony-no-11-ixion-pelle-gudmundsen-holmgreen-incontri-uk-premieres/

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Thanks for the link!

[Brian]

This shouldn't fly under your radar! The CD appears to have been released in Denmark but not internationally; it's available for streaming and downloading everywhere, though.



Nielsen, Carl [Videro, Finn - arranger(s)]
   1.        Fest-praeludium (Festival Prelude), FS 24, "Ved Aarhundredskiftet" (Turn of the Century) (arr. F. Videro for organ)    00:01:36
Langgaard, Rued
           In tenebras exteriores, BVN 334                  00:19:10
   2.         »  No. 1. Blev begravet (Was buried)              00:06:09
   3.         »  No. 2. I Dodsriget (In the Kingdom of Death) 00:03:52
   4.         »  No. 3. Forbarm dig! (Have mercy!)                 00:04:05
   5.         »  No. 4. Kom i Hu! (Remember!)                      00:05:04
   6.        Toccata, BVN 51   00:05:53
   7.        Ved Slotskirkens 100 Aars Jubilaeum SAMF, BVN 194b   00:04:23
   8.        Nemo contra deum nisi dus ipse - Fantasi (Nobody against God except God himself), BVN 217      00:12:04
Nielsen, Carl
   9.        Commotio, Op. 58, FS 155   00:23:44

[Karl Henning]

Nice!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Thanks, Brian! It is almost moving to see the great adversaries (not that Carl ever knew or cared) side by side...

[North Star]

Time to dust the Lyre!

That Naxos disc is available at Amazon UK, by the way.

[Karl Henning]

Time to dust the Lyre!

That Naxos disc is available at Amazon UK, by the way.

Nice!

(And yes, high time!)

[North Star]

Langgaard is featured pretty heavily in the latest issue of The Strad, complete with a full-page portrait. For some reason they decided to go with having the Nightingale Quartet in the front cover, though..

[

A couple of Langgaard disc reviews have appeared in the magazine before:
Gade: VC in D minor op.56. Lange-Müller: VC in C major op.69. Langgaard: VC    November 1, 2009
Langgaard: String Quartets vol.2: Rose Garden Play, String Quartets in A flat major & no.4 'Summer Days'     July 14, 2014

[Karl Henning]

A couple of Langgaard disc reviews have appeared in the magazine before:
Gade: VC in D minor op.56. Lange-Müller: VC in C major op.69. Langgaard: VC    November 1, 2009
Langgaard: String Quartets vol.2: Rose Garden Play, String Quartets in A flat major & no.4 ‘Summer Days’     July 14, 2014

Thanks for the reminder viz. the string quartets . . . has (or have) any of us checked them out?

[North Star]

Thanks for the reminder viz. the string quartets . . . has (or have) any of us checked them out?

Listening to Nightingale's vol. 3, SQ no. 1 (apparently they didn't record them in chronological order, or the ordering is messy for some reason) now on Spotify. 5 minutes into the first movement, the playing & recording are excellent (although the music is rather easygoing as of yet), and I have a feeling I'll like the music a fair bit, too. 

[Karl Henning]

I feel I shall take the plunge there, ere long.

[North Star]

Listening to SQ no. 1 (Nightingales), the slow third movement is very haunting & beautiful.

This violin sonata disc comes highly recommended by Jens Laurson, and it was also recommended in that article in The Strad as one of three discs one should first get. One of the SQ volumes by the Nightingales must have been another one in the trio, I don't remember the third one.
[asin]B0000DJELU[/asin]

[Karl Henning]

Fetching here from another thread:

Discuss.

https://www.youtube.com/v/us7fZdvQMxk

It's brief, it's in one movement, and it has a sort of program.  So why a symphony, rather than a tone-poem?

[Rinaldo]

So why a symphony, rather than a tone-poem?

My guess would be that it adds to the punchline.

Some notes on Ixion: Rued Awakenings

[Karl Henning]

Nice article, thanks.

[Mirror Image]

I've really been enjoying Langgaard more and more these days (not that I ever disliked his music). It's taken me some time to appreciate his eclectic nature as a composer. Once I realized this is hyper-Romanticism at its most intense and concentrated, I finally was able to open up to the music, but I have never spoken ill of this composer. His neglect during his lifetime is one of those unfortunate things within classical music. His disdain for the popularity of fellow composer Carl Nielsen isn't without foundation as I believe he wanted people to be more open to newer composers with different ideas. Langgaard's music was just as accessible as Nielsen's IMHO, but, as often with national heroes, it is quite difficult to allow people to jump that hurdle and discover new music. So it is with great pleasure, and joy, that I join everyone here who loves this composer's music and one last statement: let the music play on!

[Karl Henning]

Very nice.

(I need to revisit that disc of his organ works . . . .)

[Mirror Image]

Very nice.

(I need to revisit that disc of his organ works . . . .)

I need to revisit the Violin Sonatas, Volume 1 recording as I have Volume 2 on the way. I recall really enjoying them on first-listen but that's been many years ago.

The disc in question:



Have you heard it, Karl?

[Karl Henning]

I have not!  But I have really enjoyed one of the string quartet discs . . . well enough, that fetching in the rest will be a matter of time . . . .