SearchsearchUseruser

Langgaard: Music of the Spheres - Dausgaard

Langgaard: Music of the Spheres - Dausgaard

Dacapo Records  6.220535

Stereo/Multichannel Hybrid

Classical


Rued Langgaard: Music of the Spheres, The Time of the End, From the Deep

Hetna Regitze Bruun (mezzo-soprano)
Inger Dam-Jensen (soprano)
Johan Reuter (baritone)
Danish National Choir
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Dausgaard (conductor)


Rued Langgaard (1893-1952) was an odd, lonely figure in Danish music. The three works on this SACD are among his most effective and visionary orchestral works. They are apocalyptic works with a religious message, and each involves a musical contrast between a chaotic, doomed world and a celestial world of beauty and light. The Music of the Spheres, with its evocative, striking timbres, is Langgaard’s most original and forward-pointing work, and a major work of Scandinavian music.

Support this site by purchasing from these vendors using the paid links below.
As an Amazon Associate HRAudio.net earns from qualifying purchases.

bol.com
 
jpc
Presto

 

Add to your wish list | library

 

18 of 18 recommend this, would you recommend it?  yes | no

All
show
Reviews (1)
show
hide

Review by John Miller - February 8, 2011

Rued Langgaard, Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, Havergal Brian, George Lloyd and Allan Pettersson were musical mavericks of the C20th. They were all more or less rejected by the artistic Establishments of their respective countries, condemned to lifetimes of struggle for recognition and vindication. Despite this, Langgaard in particular was a surprisingly prolific composer, with over 400 works to his credit. Many of these forgotten pieces are now coming to light for the first time in a marvellous ongoing recording project from Dacapo, the orchestral works being spearheaded by the indefatigable Dausgaard with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra.

'Music of the Spheres' was composed between 1916 and 1918 (just after Holst completed 'The Planets'). Langgard's countrymen were uninterested, and it had to be performed in Germany - in 1921 and 1922. For its time, 'Music of the Spheres' was startlingly innovative - far more so than Holst's 'Planets', a fact suddenly realised by Ligeti in 1968. He and Nørgård sat on a jury judging a large number of new scores by Scandinavian composers. Unknown to the others, Nørgård had inserted 'Music of the Spheres'. Ligeti became engrossed in this score, finally exclaiming "Gentlemen, I have just discovered that I am a Langgaard follower!". Ligeti had belatedly realised that some of the technical aspects of this composition - the use of clusters, layers, etc. - appeared in some of his own works from the 1960's, especially Atmospheres (1961), which at the time was considered highly innovative.

What Langgaard (in his early 20s) was attempting with 'Music of the Spheres' was an experimental vision, setting aside the usual currency of musical language such as motives, development, form and structure. Replacing them were aspects such as space, timbre, orchestral and vocal colour, with height and depth represented in layering. The work was motivated by his preoccupation at the time with his religious belief in the spiritual power of music and its importance for mankind. He was a fervent admirer of the Art Nouveau movement, particularly the Symbolist poets. All these influences appear in 'Music of the Spheres', in its 15 sections, each of which is given an epigraphical title.

The work is scored for a large orchestra with triple woodwind and brass, 8 horns, bells, tam-tam, 8 timpani (in four parts), organ and a piano with the lid removed so that the pianist can play glissandi directly on the strings. A smaller "orchestra at a distance" has a complement of flutes, oboes, clarinets and a horn, harp,1 timp and strings in a 3,2,1,1 configuration. There is also a large mixed-voice chorus and a soprano soloist. These resources are used frugally; the organ sounds for only a few bars, and the full orchestral complement only for the final chord. The timpani, however, play a key part all through the work, from swelling 4-part rolls to fusillades rolling from drum to drum.

Dausgaard's characteristic attention to orchestral balancing displays Langgaard's deft and innovative scoring wonderfully in this live concert recording. He also keeps up a steady forward thrust, even through some almost static intervals, gripping the listener's attention even in the softest playing. Each of the various episodes brings new surprises; Langgaard constantly draws one's breath with ravishing or startlingly innovative textures. There are some purely melodic strains, especially for flutes playing with Ravellian sensuality, and later a solo violin singing with Straussian opulence. Towards the end Chaos appears with the arrival of Antichrist, one of Langgaard's symbols in his description of the eternal and cosmic battle between Good and Evil. The arc of the piece thus culminates seemingly inevitably in a final long-held, swelling 9-note chord at full force from the whole ensemble, with a tornado of tympani, bells, cymbals and blazing brass which achieves a tremendous cathartic release.

The audience make some discreet noises in the first few moments, as they clearly did not expect such a hushed beginning, where many-divided strings build a shimmering cluster from top down, but for the rest of the piece they are remarkably quiet. Dacapo thankfully do not include any applause; it is sufficient to let the music of the spheres to return to the silence from which they emerged. The house recording style, of natural perspectives in the airy modern Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, suites the disposition of the forces, with Langgaard's "orchestra at a distance" sounding ethereally behind (and above) the main orchestra and chorus - this effect is best heard, of course, in multichannel.

Rozhdestvensky conducted the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra in a fine version of 'Music of the Spheres' for Chandos, but his make-weight was Langgard's Four Tone Pictures, on a very different emotional and stylistic level to 'Music of the Spheres'. Dausgard gives us a much more generous and appropriate selection which adds considerably to the impact of this disc: first, 'Endens Tid' (End-Time) for mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone and orchestra. The title originates in the Book of Daniel, with its visions of the end of the world. It consists of music from the first version of Langgaard's opera 'AntiChrist' (1921-1923), which was removed from the final version. In 1930 Langgaard produced a concert work as a Suite, consisting of the Prelude to the Opera and three scenes which provide a compact summary of the whole opera plot. The style here is more neo-Romantic, but still with Langgaard's innovatory orchestral textures, such a thrilling high-trotting ostinato on the strings which reappears several times.

Mezzo-soprano Hetna Regitze Bruun expertly manages the dual roles of a Young Christian Woman and The Scarlet Woman; Tenor Peter Lodahl brings deep commitment and a ringing voice to AntiChrist himself, while baritone Johan Reuter effects a sternly dark-voiced authority to Bishop Sàl's part. Ragnarok (the Scandinavian vision of the end of the world) is effectively portrayed in post-Wagnerian terms by choir and Orchestra. This is a splendid introduction for ' AntiChrist' and will surely attract listeners to the opera itself, which was not staged in its final version until 1999. It is available on SACD (Langgaard: Antikrist - Dausgaard) and BluRay.

'Fra Dybet' (From the Abyss) dates from 1950-52 and is his last dated composition. In some ways, it is his own Requiem, a glowingly ample setting of short sentences from the Requiem Mass, specifically the Dies Irae and Lux aeterna. The final text, "To me also hope Thou gavest" represents Langgaard's final religious affirmation. The chorus here is superbly disciplined, and the C19th oratorio style of polyphony brings a majesty and warmth which is deeply moving. The recording of 'Endens Tid' and 'Fra Dybet' took place in the same venue, but without audience. Their perspective is a little closer, with a wider stage, and is sharply focussed and vivid.

It is hard to imagine better performances of these three works, and the programme amounts to much more than the sum of its parts in revealing the essence of Langgaard's art. The disc is very well-documented in the notes and recorded with convincing realism. Listeners who have been following Dacapo's traversal of all the Langgaard symphonies will find this an irresistible purchase. Simply a magnificent achievement.

Copyright © 2011 John Miller and HRAudio.net

Performance:

Sonics (Stereo):

Sonics (Multichannel):

stars stars stars