LANGGAARD: MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
Performing with: Inger Dam-Jensen (soprano), Hetna Regitze Bruun (mezzo-soprano), Johan Reuter (baritone) & Peter Lodahl (tenor); Danish National Symphony Orchestra & Danish National Concert Choir
Dausgaard’s interpretation, brought vividly to this year’s Proms to much acclaim, accentuates the textural subtleties of the score in a vibrant recording that achieves amazing quietude…[From the Abyss] rounds out this superbly played and recorded disc splendidly. Highly recommended.
Dausgaard draw[s] every subtlety from a score whose often hushed dynamic level does not preclude a wealth of textual and motivic detail
About
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.
TRACKLISTING
Langgaard, R: Music of the Spheres, for soprano, chorus, orchestra and distant orchestra, BVN 128
1. I. Like Sunbeams on a Coffin Decorated with Sweet Smelling Flowers
2. II. Like the Twinkling of Stars in the Blue Sky at Sunset
3. III. Like Light and the Depths
4. IV. Like the Refraction of Sunbeams in the Waves
5. V. Like the Twinkling of a Pearl of Dew in the Sun on a Beautiful Summer’s Morning
6. VI. Longing – Despair – Ecstasy
7. VII. Soul of the World – Abyss – All Soul’s Day
8. VIII. I Wish …!
9. IX. Chaos – Ruin – Far and Near
10. X. Flowers Wither
11. XI. Glimpse of the Sun Through Tears
12. XII. Bells Pealing. Look! He Comes
13. XIII. The Gospel of Flowers – From the Far Distance
14. XIV. The New Day
15. XV. The End. Antichrist – Christ
Langgaard, R: Endens Tid (The End of Time), BVN 243
16. I. Antichrist. Prelude
17. II. At the End of Time
18. III. Towards the End of the World
19. IV. The Catastrophe
20. Langgaard, R: Fra Dybet (From the Deep), BVN 414