Customer Reviews

Langgaard: The Symphonies

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Let's face it with all the Mahler, Sibelius, Dvorak, and Brahms that floods the market it's truly great to have this box set of the obscure Danish composer Rued Langgaard available for the first time in a space saving, special edition hybrid SACD box set (wow that was a mouthful). For those who don't know and just happen to be curious, Langgaard was composer who lived in obscurity all of his life. He composed epic pieces of music in the late-Romantic vein. He spent much of life dazzling audiences with his virtuosic organ skills and he landed a job as organist at a cathedral in a village in Denmark. He composed music much of his life and the only fame he received had been when his Symphony No. 1 was premiered by the Berlin Philharmonic, but it didn't garner much admiration or attention. He died in 1952.

Fast forward almost 50 years later, we now have this beautiful box set of Langgaard's works brought to us by a true visionary Thomas Dausgaard and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. There have been attempts at Langgaard's music in particular with Neeme Jarvi with the same orchestra here. As much as I love Jarvi, he can't quite grasp this music. This is where Dausgaard and his forces raised the bar. This is the box that all other performances are measured against, especially since most of these works are world premiere recordings and have never been available to the public before.

Right from the opening measures of Symphony No. 1, you are catapulted into the wildly emotional world of Langgaard. This music is played with such sustained intensity that you will not believe the virtuosity and amount of feeling it takes to pull this work off. This is Mahler on steroids. Exceptional playing and you will find that throughout this box set the playing and conducting are consistent.

The sound quality is also very good. The acoustics are well defined and there is plenty of bottom end (an important aspect to this music).

If you are interested in traveling outside of the composers we're all familiar with: Mahler, Bruckner, Wagner, etc., then look no further than this box. Seven discs of pure excitement, joy, emotional intensity, drama, and beauty. Highly recommended.

A chance encounter on You Tube where I listened to some samples of Langaard symphonies got me investigating on this composer. I was hearing wonderfully grand Wagnerian music with unforgettable opening melodic themes. I entered the rabbit hole of Langaard, researching on this unheard of composer (for me). I have been listening to western classical music for past 10 years. How did I miss this composer? I only chanced upon this composer because some blessed soul had uploaded some samples on you tube and I came upon these just be chance. When I listened to them, I immediately wanted to know more about Langaard. I was shocked to find that he was a 19th century Danish composer and I had never ever heard about him. I immediately did a search on Amazon and found this complete symphony set that I simply had to have, based on the samples of all his symphonies I had browsed through on YouTube. It was an atrocity that history dealt Langaard. And despite not finding fame in his lifetime, I have great respect for a man who kept going for 16 symphonies (albeit some compositions which Langaard numbered as symphonies are more like individual short pieces but not really symphonies in the traditional sense of the word. One of Langaard symphonies is 7 minutes and another one is 6 minutes). He probably knew that would be discovered posthumously.

Lush with orchestral color, with the forces of Wagner and the color of orchestration like Strauss; beautiful melodic themes, with dance like Waltzes reminiscent of Strauss but never dull for a moment. I cannot believe that the first symphony was the work of a 19 year old composer. How could a composer of such brilliance be overlooked? Even if he may not have been revolutionary, he is certainly interesting, better than average - his symphonies are never dull. They have grand themes like Wagner's overtures to operas; His music has rich sonorities. This is hardly music that can be considered below average or dull so I am just amazed that a composer of such eloquence could have simply been neglected and never found fame in his life time. Even Bruckner got famous or had a devoted following towards the later part of life. Why did Rued Langaard get treated this way? Granted he is very romantic and may not be breaking new ground for the time he composed in, but his music is always arresting, interesting with big grand overarching thematic material.

Langaard seems to have been a master of orchestration, specifically his usage of the brass; shiny and colorful. Most symphonies in this collection in its opening movement conjure up some grand epic image. I am reminded of breathtaking landscapes, oceans, large ships, kingdoms. It is epic in scope. I am reminded of Parsifal and Lohengrin - Wagner's earlier style prior to the Ring operas. The musical use of the tubas and brass conjures up Wagnerian images. Langaard's music has a Schubertian lyrical quality combined with Wagner's thick & dense orchestration plus Richard Strauss's orchestral color. There are also shades of Carl Nielsen's compositional style that I hear (Langaard was critical of Carl Nielsen's music). In some of the symphonies, his music is rich, dense, yet transparent with very folksy tunes like Arnold Bax; so diverse - all encompassing; temperamental, serene, profound, epic, colorful, dramatic - all these tags come to mind. The symphonies vary in length. Some symphonies have 5 movements, some 4 and some even 1. It is a very wide ranging mix of music in tone, mood, emotion and style. I presume even now Langaard's symphonies may not be performed a whole lot in concert halls. I can only hope that at least in Denmark he is being played in concert halls.

Since there are 16 symphonies, here is what each symphonies high point is or general musical character in my view. When listening to Langaard I could not help but make musical associations to styles of other composers. It may be coincidental but I could feel the musical strains of other composers. I don't mean to imply that Langaard' s music is not original, it is just that I could not help not being reminded of other composers due to the musical phrasing in some instances and the orchestration in others.

=Symphony 1=

Lush, expansive, epic, grand, brash and bold. Brassy, big, long....Love this one. The orchestration is so grand that even if it keeps going and never ends, it sounds awesome.

=Symphony 2=

Serene, peaceful, lyrical and not as temperamental as the 1st. A beautiful 3rd movement for voice and orchestra. Reminding one of Mahler Lieders. Every voice phrase has a beautiful accompanying orchestral music with strings and woodwinds. Hauntingly beautiful woodwinds remind me of Wagner. Langaard had a way with beautiful soaring melodies like the Viennese master Richard Strauss with lush orchestration.

=Symphony 3=

Most magical opening tunes with piano keys dropping like rain accompanied by orchestra. This is well and truly a piano concerto (save for the 2nd movement not featuring the piano); reminds me of Brahms's piano concertos style, sometimes sounding like Tchaikovsky. Oh what beautiful opening theme on piano. This is piano concerto of the most consummate beauty. Piano is used in 1st and 3rd movement

=Symphony 4=

Amazingly find minimalistic repetitive structures in movement 5 and 12. Movement 13 has the emotional drama of Tchaikovsky ballet music in its short repetitive phrases.

=Symphony 5=

Spontaneous burst transparent orchestration reminds me of Elgar. Lyrical twist to the themes reminds me to Carl Nielsen. There are 2 versions of symphony 5, on this disc. Apparently Langaard found the need to revise this symphony to create a second version. I somehow like the spontaneous and quick version I. Version II is longer and more solemn and expanded out. Version 1 is better for me due to the smaller time frame in which the musical ideas are packed and is just more musically dense for me rather than version II which is longer and is not as taught and attention grabbing for me. Also at the very end of this symphony, there is a very modern repetitive structure which seems so much in contrast with Langaard' s romantic expression approaching John Adams.

(Ver 1) - Sounds like one of Carl Nielsen symphony in many places. In that it shares that common Danish feel. Last movement lento seems real avant-garde for its time. It is as forward looking as an Ives composition trying to mix very distinctly different themes into a contrapuntal format. (ver 2) The starting movement is very much like a BAX symphony in its percussive orchestration and quality of orchestral transparency despite the orchestral density.

=Symphony 6=

The first movement is a serene, peaceful with a mournful or nostalgic melody looking back at the past. It is presented as a long arch of string heavy notes repeated with slight variations and idyllic string heavy phrase with variations throughout repeating with its long arc with the quality of air by Bach. 3rd movement has bombastic grandeur in its brass heavy atmosphere. The fifth movement has breathless and restless orchestration bringing in woodwind elements mingling with brass and string. 6th movement has organized turbulence. Last movement restates the original phrase which started this symphony and runs through the whole symphony

=Symphony 7=

This symphony to feels like a collage of so many styles - The opening movement almost feels like you are listening to Schubert in its romanticism. The second slow movement feels Beethovenian in spirit (not orchestration). Third movement is a delicate scherzo. The last movement again gives me vibes of Beethoven in terms of musical phrasing with lush orchestration more typical of Viennese masters.

=Symphony 8=

This is truly a romantic gem of a symphony. Not a note is wasted. The Opening movement is highly Waltz in character. You can almost imagine a ball room full of gentlemen and ladies dancing a Waltz. A solemn and traditional occasion depicted in the first movement. Second movement. Third movement is a beautiful choral movement. Last movement is also very Waltz in character.

=Symphony 9=

Very Viennese in character and Waltzy - Approaching the Blue Danube sound. Very pleasant sounding; hard not to fall in love with the clean and Waltzy Viennese atmosphere. Imagine ballroom and aristocrats dancing.

=Symphony 10=

A single movement symphony. This symphony gets quite Mahlerian with the introduction of woodwinds. This is a very diverse symphony with many musical styles. It has wild mood swings.

=Symphony 11=

The shortest 'symphony' I have listened to with a running time 6 mins and 20 secs . Not sure if this can be called a symphony? Any way as long as it is in this collection I am fine - whatever it is called is fine with me - probably more of a symphonic sketch. The music is inventive and dramatic. Feels a bit like one of Elgar's coronation music although more solemn.

=Symphony 12=

Another super short 'symphony' I have listened to with a running time of 7 mins and 6 seconds. Not sure if I can really term this a symphony with music which runs just over 7 mins. That is fine with if that is what Langaard chooses to call it.

=Symphony 13=

Schubertian lyrical quality in the andante. 5th movement (to be played wildly as per the composer) has dramatic contrapuntal treatment. There are sections in this movement that reminds me of Mozart and Beethoven combined. The 6th movement (To be played elegantly) is stately and dramatic with the organ being brought in to good dramatic effect with the same theme as in the previous 5th movement. The last movement recapitulates the main opening theme of the symphony and which is also the spirit of the symphony (reappearing in several movements) and towards the close of the symphony is the same glorious organ theme again.

=Symphony 14=

A choral symphony. The 3rd movement is powerful and lyrical.

=Symphony 15=

A very atmospherically lonely symphony. The feeling of despair and detachment run throughout the symphony. This symphony is dark and filled with remorse. Very different from the light and conventionally romantic style. This symphony is more like an Allan Pettersson symphony. Dark and brooding. The last movement totally changes the mood from nostalgic and brooding to more optimistic.

=Symphony 16=

Colorful orchestration. Very Richard Strauss in character.

The other standalone pieces - Drapa, Sphinx, Hvidbjerg-Drapa, Fanfares for orchestra and Res Absurda are also wonderful pieces. My favorites are the fanfares Hvidbjerg-Drapa and Res Absurda for its eccentric, neurotic and rapid changing orchestration.

When I listened to the whole cycle once to get gist and then when I heard a second time, I felt it hit me hard (I normally get it or feel like I am comprehending music satisfactorily only on second hearing for music new to me). What beautiful music composed and how unfair is life where this composer never got his dues. Only 16 years after his Death, did his music become known. What a travesty of justice.

The recordings quality is 5 stars - avoiding the overt studio recording sound for more of an organic concert hall sound (Play with your equalizer if you need to dampen some frequencies if you want to unsweeten some groups of instruments to make it sound more LIVE than studio if you still feel it a bit studio). Also the box set packaging is the best packing of any box set CD collection I have period. The cardboard has nice art and you open it from the bottom up like a calendar and immediately a briefcase type folio filing cardboard cabinet drops out with the CDs neatly arranged.

I am so happy I stumbled onto this composer on YouTube. Long live the internet and YouTube, without which I would never have heard of Langaard. Thank you DACAPO, thank you Thomas Dausgard (Conductor), thank you Danish national symphony orchestra, vocal ensemble and choir for bringing us this boxed set so that we can set right the past injustice and pay our due respect in admiration of Langaard' s music.

First rate product - great music from an accomplished composer, great recording, great packaging.

It's delightful to see Dausgaard's revelatory recordings of Langgaard's symphonies have been collected into a single box. This is a superb and rare blending of a great composer and a great interpreter.

Amazon's reviewer correctly points out that Langgaard was -- well, eccentric to say the least. However, we would do well to remember that Salvador Dali's supreme artistic genius was founded on the fact that he was a paranoid schizophrenic. He knew it and he used it. I'm not sure Langgaard was in that same boat, but his music has the sort of quality Scriabin was looking for when he was working on "Universe".

Try Langgard's (father and son) piano concerti some time.

Referring to the mini-debate within another review regarding the clumsy packaging. CD (not to mention DVD) producers often show no regard whatsoever for the user. They're as bad as Republican "care" for the environment and the middle and lower classes.

However, guys, have you considered repackaging the product yourself. I've done this a lot with bulky and/or clumsy DVD sets and some smaller CD sets. I haven't tried it with this set yet, but there are several companies that sell empty containers of many sizes. They're on the net.

I am very happy with the CDs.

But the packaging seems to leave the very good possibility of damage to the CDs when removed or replaced in their slots. I can not remove a CD without touching the playing surface. At best it's a two-handed job and the CDs in front are in a precarious position. The booklet is all the way in the back in its own slot and not very easily removed. I would have prefered to have had the standard clamshell case with individual envelopes for the discs. At least then when you are trying to get a disc you are only fumbling with one disc rather than all of them.

But the music is fantastic.