Rued Langgaard: Chamber Music

On this CD:

1. Lenaustemninger (Lenau Moods), for mezzo-soprano & string quartet, BVN 138
Composed by Rued Langgaard
Performed by Randers Chamber Orchestra with Annette Simonsen

2. I Blomstringstiden, Pieces (2) to poems by Alvilde Prydz for mezzo-soprano & string quartet, BVN 136
Composed by Rued Langgaard
Performed by Randers Chamber Orchestra with Annette Simonsen

3. Septet, for flute, oboe, 2 clarinet, 2 horns & bassoon, BVN 95
Composed by Rued Langgaard
Performed by Randers Chamber Orchestra

4. String Quartet in A flat major, BVN 155
Composed by Rued Langgaard
Performed by Randers Chamber Orchestra

5. Humoresque, for flute, oboe, english horn, clarinet, bassoon & military drum, BVN 176
Composed by Rued Langgaard
Performed by Randers Chamber Orchestra

Tracks:

Five Songs: 1. Sang bag Ploven
Five Songs: 2. Dangang Doden var i vente
Five Songs: 3. I aften
Five Songs: 4. Irmelin Rose
Five Songs: 5. Min Pige er saa lys som Rav
String Quartet No. 3 (1924): I Poco allegro rapinsoso - The Miro String Quartet
String Quartet No. 3 (1924): II Presto scherzo artifizioso - The Miro String Quartet
String Quartet No. 3 (1924): III Tranquillo - The Miro String Quartet
Concerto For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 33: I Praeludium, Largo; Allegro cavalleresco - Saeka Matsuyama, Violin
Concerto For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 33: II Poco adagio; Rondo, Allegretto scherzando - Saeka Matsuyama, Violin

Album Description

In 1999, the government of Denmark sponsored a festival of Danish arts in New York City. The culminating event of this festival was the Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition, which included attendance by Her Majesty, Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark. This disc features Silver Medalist Saeka Matsuyama's electrifying competition performance of Carl Nielsen's Violin Concerto, accompanied by Denmark's Odense Symphony Orchestra. Matsuyama's performance of the Nielsen Concerto also earned the 18-year old violinist the Odense Symphony Orchestra's Special Prize. Opening this celebratory disc is a stunning performance by the Miro String Quartet of Rued Langgaard's remarkable String Quartet No. 3. Considered to be among Langgaard;s finest compositions, the Miro Quartet gives a reading that had American and Danish critics reaching for superlatives. Rounding out this CD is a selection of songs by Carl Nielsen. Sung by the Danish baritone, Lars Thodberg Bertelsen, this group features some of Nielsen's most popular songs, including Irmelin Rose.

Average customer rating:

Langaard: String Quartets

Manufacturer: Marco Polo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000045RH
Release Date: 1994-08-09

Tracks:

Str Qt no.2: 1. Storm Clouds Receding (Allegro focoso)
Str Qt no.2: 2. Train Passing By (Poco moderato-Presto)
Str Qt no.2: 3. Landscape in Twilight (Andante Pastorale)
Str Qt no.2: 4. The Walk (Poco lento elegaico-Poco allegro alla marcia risoluto)
Str Qt no.6 in one movt on a Swedish folk tune: Poco tranquillo-Poco vivace-Poco tranquillo...
Str Qt no.3: 1. Poco allegro rapinoso
Str Qt no.3: 2. Presto scherzoso artifizioso
Str Qt no.3: 3. Tranquillo-Scherzoso schernevole-Tranquillo-Mosso Frenetico-Maestoso

Tracks:

Str Qt no.5: 1. Andante quasi andantino misterioso
Str Qt no.5: 2. Scherzo grazioso
Str Qt no.5: 3. Lento mistorioso
Str Qt no.5: 4. Lento-Allegro quasi andantino
Str Qt no 4 'Summer days': 1. Andante scherzoso
Str Qt no 4 'Summer days': 2. Scherzoso
Str Qt no 4 'Summer days': 3. Sostenuto-Allegro, scherzoso
Vars 'O sacred head! now wounded': Intro (Solenne sostenuto, lento)/Vars I-VII

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Rued Langgaard: Organ Works

Manufacturer: Classico
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000060P75
Release Date: 2002-02-26

Tracks:

Fantasia Patetica, BVN 19
Som Lynet Er Kristi Genkomst, BVN 341
Preludio Patetico, BVN 55
Ode Gader, BVN 373
Nemo Contra Deum Nisi Deus Ipse (Fantasi), BVN 217
Elias I Uvejret, BVN 337
Forbarm Dig! (III675754485122: Forbarm Dig! (III), BVN 337

Rued Langgaard: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2

Average customer rating:

Rued Langgaard: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 & 2

Manufacturer: Marco Polo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000060O3U
Release Date: 2002-04-23

Average customer rating:

Rued Langgaard: Violin Sonatas, Vol. 2

Manufacturer: Da Capo [Naxos]
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000DJELU
Release Date: 2004-01-20

Tracks:

Aubade (Morgenstanchen) (BVN 23; 1907)
Allegro Sempre. Praecist Og Egtertrykkeligt
Allegro
Scherzo. Grazioso Fiero
Espressivo
Finale. Allegro Molto
Short Violin Sonata (BVN 372; 1949)
Doux! Ikke Hurtigt (Not Fast)
Priere
Scherzo. Hurtigt, Elegant (Fast, Elegant)
Presto Furioso
Finale. Allegro
Praecist Og Eftertykkeligt (Percisely And Emphatically)
Samme Tempo (Praecist Og Eftertykkeligt) (Same Tempo)
Praecist Og Eftertykkeligt!
Praecist Og Eftertykkeligt!
Praecist Og Eftertykkeligt!
Andante Religioso (BVN 407; 1950)

Langgaard: Vanvidsfantasi; Blomstervignetter

Average customer rating:

Langgaard: Vanvidsfantasi; Blomstervignetter

Manufacturer: Classico
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000HZ9T
Release Date: 1999-02-15

Average customer rating:

Langaard: String Quartets

Manufacturer: Dacapo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000024OBC

Tracks:

Str Qt no.2: 1. Storm Clouds Receding (Allegro focoso)
Str Qt no.2: 2. Train Passing By (Poco moderato-Presto)
Str Qt no.2: 3. Landscape in Twilight (Andante Pastorale)
Str Qt no.2: 4. The Walk (Poco lento elegaico-Poco allegro alla marcia risoluto)
Str Qt no.6 in one movt on a Swedish folk tune: Poco tranquillo-Poco vivace-Poco tranquillo...
Str Qt no.3: 1. Poco allegro rapinoso
Str Qt no.3: 2. Presto scherzoso artifizioso
Str Qt no.3: 3. Tranquillo-Scherzoso schernevole-Tranquillo-Mosso Frenetico-Maestoso

Tracks:

Str Qt no.5: 1. Andante quasi andantino misterioso
Str Qt no.5: 2. Scherzo grazioso
Str Qt no.5: 3. Lento mistorioso
Str Qt no.5: 4. Lento-Allegro quasi andantino
Str Qt no 4 'Summer days': 1. Andante scherzoso
Str Qt no 4 'Summer days': 2. Scherzoso
Str Qt no 4 'Summer days': 3. Sostenuto-Allegro, scherzoso
Vars 'O sacred head! now wounded': Intro (Solenne sostenuto, lento)/Vars I-VII

Average customer rating:

Polish your Danish

Danish Golden Age Piano Trios

Manufacturer: Marco Polo
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000045RL
Release Date: 1995-12-12

Tracks:

Trio Movt in B flat: Adagio-Allegro con fuoco
Andantino & 8 Vars in C
Fjeldblomster (Mountain Flowers)
Bornetrio (Children's Trio) in G, op.31: Moderato
Bornetrio (Children's Trio) in G, op.31: Andantino-Allegro vivace-Andantino
Bornetrio (Children's Trio) in G, op.31: Allegro con fuoco
Pno Trio in f, op.53: Moderato con moto
Pno Trio in f, op.53: Allegretto piacevole-l'istesso tempo (scherzando)-Tempo I
Pno Trio in f, op.53: Allegro con brio, ma non troppo presto

Customer Reviews:

Polish your Danish.......2000-10-03

This fantastic record gives you an insight into not well known Danish composers, with the exception of maybe Gade.

It is amazing that such beautiful pieces are in the dark and thumbs up to dacapo for leting us to appreciate them. I specially liked Henriques Childre Trio, composed in 1904.

Performance is first rate and the pianist, Mr. John Damgaard does an excellent job. Recording is first rate.

Customer Reviews:

Rather Unformed but Generally Tuneful Piano Music.......2005-05-19

There are composers whose fame rests as much with their peculiarities as with their music. One thinks of Sorabji, Alkan, Gurdjieff and others. Rued Langgaard (1893-1952) belongs in this group. He lived an essentially isolated life, living with his mother until her death in 1926 and then marrying her housekeeper. He never had much of a job until he finally became organist at a provincial Danish church where he remained until his death. He was shunned in Ribe, the provincial town in which he lived, and tended to sleep during the day, wander the streets at night. He composed voluminously and with few exceptions these works had few or even no performances. He was ignored even by the Danes, much less the world at large, until a minor reexamination of his works began in the past twenty years or so. I will admit that the only music of his that I knew was his 'Sfaerernes musik' ('Music of the Spheres'), a rambling and sometimes effective orchestral piece loaded with symbolist and religious subtext.

This disc presents several of his piano works, and indeed four of the five works purport to be receiving their first-ever recordings. 'Gitanjali-Hymner' ('Gitanjali Hymns') is a thirty-minute collection of 10 pieces, each inspired by a particular passage in Rabindranath Tagore's poetry (and those poems are reproduced in the very nicely done CD booklet). The musical language is rather like Grieg hybridized with Rachmaninoff, but the form of most of the pieces is somewhat rambling and even improvisatory. At times, frankly, it sounds like notated noodling. It is all very tuneful, not very harmonically adventuresome and at times banal. The booklet writer (Esben Tange, who I guess to be the pianists's husband) makes much of No. 8, 'Tavshedens Hav' ('The Sea of Silence'), primarily commenting about its illustration of this sentence of Tagore's: 'Let all my songs gather together their diverse strains into a single current and flow to a sea of silence.' But to my ears this is almost New Age strumming of the simplest sort.

'Fantasi-Sonate' ('Fantasy Sonata') from 1916 is a bit more interesting, and what is even more interesting is that Langgaard essentially rewrote it, shortening it drastically, in 1948, as the first movement of a new work, 'Vanvidsfantasi' ('Insanity Fantasy') that is, for me, the most compelling of the longer works on this disc. A three-movement work, 'Vanvidsfantasi,' is marked by long passages with the sustaining pedal held down, causing a kind of blurry sonic scrim through which the alternately dream-like and dramatic music emerges. The third movement is particularly dramatic and effective. It is of note that Langgaard may indeed have been suffering from a psychosis in the period surrounding the composition of this work, and Esben Tange reminds us that throughout his life Langgaard identified with the personal history of Robert Schumann (whose music his sometimes echoes) and particularly with Schumann's last years in which he was confined in a hospital for the mentally ill.

There is a very short innocuous Schumannesque work 'Nat Paa Sundet' ('Night on the Sound') written when Langgaard was thirteen. It is followed by the equally short 'Hél-Sfaerernes Musik' ('Hél-Sphere Music'; 'Hél' is cognate with our word 'Hell') which could not be more different from the dreamy 'Nat Paa Sundet'. It is bleak, dramatic, dissonant, fragmented and disturbing, and easily the most original music on the disc. One wishes one could hear more of Langgaard's music in this vein.

The pianist here is Berit Johansen Tange, a fine musician whose technical abilities are more than a match for this music's requirements. I suspect she gives this music as good an outing as it is likely to get any time soon. It's a shame there isn't much here to return to.

TT=67mins

Scott Morrison