Untitled - Chandos

Rued Langgaard
(1893
- 1952)
Symphony no.2 (1912-1411926-33) BVN 53. (Manuscript)
'Vaarbrud" ("Vaarsange") Break of Spring (Spring Songs) .?B.24
EAllegro 18.4J
p Moderato con poco moto9.42
pSymphony no. 3 (1915-16/1929-33) BVN 96. (Manuscript)
"Ungdomsbrus" ("La melodia") Rustle of Youth 28.0J
@Drapa (1907/09) BVN 20 (Manuscript) 6.24
(Ved Edvard Griegs Dod) (Upon the Death of Edvard Grieg)
Roma Owsinska, Soprano [2]
Tadeusz Chmielewski, Piano [3]
Ilya Stupel
Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra
BVN refers to: Bendt Viinholdt Nielsen: Rued Langgaard's Compositions
An Annotated Catalogue of Works. Odense Universitetsforlag 1991.

Rued (Rud) lmmanucl Langgaard was
born in Copenhagen on 28th July l{t93,
the only child of the composer and pianist
Sieglried Langgaard (llJ52 - 1914)
and his wif'e, the pianist Emma Langgrard.
nce Fo's. Hc uf rcsfccting
-ufcw
the classical-romantic tradition in Danish
music, which spanned tiom Nicls W.
Gade to Horneman, and adnriring foreign
composers such as W:Lgncr and
Liszt. Sieglried Langgaard had studied
with Liszt for two periods during 1878 -
79, and the piano concerto he composcd
was the llrst insttrnce of the great lateromantic
concerto in Denmark.
Ruetl was giren his lirst pilno tuition
by his nrother aged only five, ancl within
two years he had mastered Chopin's mazurkas
and Schumann's Daviclsbiindler-
Tdnze. His lather then took over the
trair.ring of thc your.rg boy. who at aboul
this time produced his t'irst compositions.
His Iurther theoretical studies took place
at thc Horncman Conscrvatoire of Music.
and he studied the violin and organ
with Messrs. C. PeLersen and G. Helsted
respectrvely.
Langgaard's lirst public appearance
was at a recital in Copenhagcn's Marmorkirken
in 1905, at which he in,provised
at the organ. Gricg was present and
expressed his ardmiration for the prodigy.
His c16br:t as a composer came in 1908
with the choral work Mu.sac trium-
phuttcs. which he had completed two
ycars carlicr. but it w:rs not well received.
Durir,g the same year hc commcnccd
work on his first symphony which was
given its first pcrformance in 1913 by the
Berlin Philharn.ronic Orchestra under no
less a figurc than Max Fiedler. Thc symphonic
poem Sfn-r.- was premiered at the
same oonccrt. which thus established
Langgaard as a highly-gified and extremely
promising yor:r'rg composer.
Alier the death of Langgaard pdre in
1914. the young man's mother became
the focal point of his life, watching and
(over-)protecLing her remole and rntroverted
son's artistic dcvclopmcnt. ln a
lctter to a lirniily friend the lady quoted
her son as follows: "l (Rucd Langgaard)
want Lo wander orr sacred paths, paths
open not unto mankind but unto the
spirit alone. Earthly spheres are too low
fbr me; humarn emotion, in so lar as it adhercs
to thc body, too imperf'ecL". Evidence
indeed of a sensitive and original
young person!
Three months aftcr thc death of his f a-
Lher Langgaard made his conducting d6but
at thc Copenhagen Music Society.
During this period he was also assistant
organist at thc Marmorkirken and Garnisonskirken
churches while, as a composcr,
thc years liom 1910 to the early
1920's were his rnost productivc and artistically
successful. He was awarded a

number of grants as well as a lif-e-long annual
bursary from thc Danish goverument.
Bctween 1920 and 1923 he Lravelled
to Germany, Austria, Switzerl:Lrrd
and ltaly. conducting his own works (the
4th symphony in Heidelberg and Darmstadt)
and hearing thc interpretations of
others (thc 2nd symphony ir.r Vienna, in
1922).It was also at this time that hc began
to withdraw from thc established
Danish, or rather Copenhagen, musical
life. A series of vehemcnt alLacks by his
mother on the new musical icleals of the
age dragged Langgaard and his lateromantic
idiom into thc struggle between
what was secn Lo be performablc and
what was lto longer considered tomme il
faut. The new purist attitude to church
rr.rusic similarly left Langgaard's sublective
and evoc:rtive artistry out in the cold.
While his artistic ability was ol course all
his own. thcrc can be little doubt that his
domineering parcnts. with their roots in
the earlicr generation's esthetic ideals,
and in particul:Lr his firLher's theosophical
beliefs. lcti the young Langgatrrd in a situation
that was to the benefit of ncithcr
himself nor Danish music in general. He
had - like the hero of an inverse Hans
Christian Andersen lairy-talc - turned
frorn a white duckling into an ugly swzLn.
His nrother died in 1926 and, one year
later, Langgaard married Valborg Constancc
Tetens, who wits two years his sen-
ior and who had been living with the f amily
fbr fbur years. Ap:rrt ll-onr a brief tcnurc
as organist at thc church of Christiansborg
Castle in (iopenh:rgcn fronr
1926 lo 1929 his applications for a pennanent
position as an organist were ln valn.
During the 1930's Langgaard's output,
which by then totallcd more than 200
works, bcgan to fall dramatically. Apart
from the revision of the 5th symphony
only onc major work - Messi..t. a drama
fbr orgar, in thrce "evenings" - appeared
cluring this period. In 1927 he lourrded
his own Classical music Society, in order
to 'counterbalance Lhe horrors of modern
music'. but it came apart al1er only thrcc
concerts.
ln 19210, at the age of zl7, he was madc
organist at thc cathedral of the small
Wc:t Jutland tou n of Ribe. an irpporntnrent
he himsclf considered his final banishmcnL
lrom Copenhagen musical lif'c.
A largc number of his liturgical organ
works were composed in Ribe, as were
the last scven synrphonics. Much of his
production from this latter period were
to remain unperformed. among them the
16th and last symphony, composed the
year beforc his death on lOth.luly 1952.
Atler her husband's death Constance
I anggarrrd madc a greut eflort Lo brilrg
order and system to the wealth of music
he had lcft, and her list was the only catalogue
in existencc until Bendt Viinholt

Nielsen in 1991 publishcd his completc.
annotated catalogue on Odense University
Press. Upon Constance L:rnggaard's
death in 1969 thc composer's works were
entrusted to a foundation.
Langgaard's output was prodigious.
The total of more than 400 works, including
adaptions, arrangemcnts and numcrous
revisions and reworkings are difficult
to survey. The symphonics wcre performed
but a few times: many received
their flrst perlbrmances only scvcral ycars
aftcr Langgaard's death, partly because
only a few of them were evel printed. Thc
music is powcrful and direct. but the
many revisions of the large-scale works in
particular failed to tighten up their form,
or limit the sudden and abrupt outbursts.
It is at onoe full of contrasts and primitivist,
if also invariably genuinely human in
its constant swings in mood- As a lateromantic
Langgaard was not alier thc
merely ostentatious ancl calculated
breadth o1'a Tchaikovsky or a Rachmaninov,
but rnore the immcdiatc and pure
sentiment such as chaotically siezed hirn
as he composed.
His skill in orchestration was no less
than masterly and. without rcgard to any
orchestral difficulties. he created quite
unerpected sonorities and harmonic cff'ecLs
based on thc classical ideal he never
betrayed. This goes not just for the 16
symphonies: the piano and organ works
too take the maximum advantage of thc
possibilities of' their instruments. The
chambcr music and the more than 150
sonp\ sho$ greal melodic inrentircnes:
paired with a keen poetic scnsibility.
The works from between l9l0 and 20
are tbr Lhe most part influcnccd by the
great late-romantic manifestations of the
time. and both Richard Strzruss. WiLgner
rnd others are hinted at. Towards the
1930's there is a shili towards a more
subciued. refined- expressiveness with a
clear. transparent structure. The great or'ohcstral
piccc Sfnrernes Mu,vk (The Music
of the Spheres) would be an examplc.
Starting with the third symphony the
symphonies tend to be of one movcmcnt,
varying ir.r length from half an hour to
just six mirrutes. During the early pcriod
nature was a great inspiration to Langgaard
- his famrly's summer holidays in
Swcdcn in particular were to leave their
mark on his music - but belbre long this
lyricism was to fuse with an almost overpowering
sense of religion. where his contestation
of (and fascination with) the triumph
of evil over good, the sLruggle
between light and dark. God anci Satan.
and fear of the inferno and perdition
were to lind powertiLl exprcssion in his
music. In no piece does he den'lonstrate
his humane concern and basic philosophy
more Ibrcefully than in the biblical
opera Antikri.sl (Antichrist). recognized

as being one of his masterworks.
Thanks to his absolute m:rstcry of the
orchestra, enabling him to compose complicated
r/ilrsi for thc strirrgs, prescribe
doublings in the wind section (whcre frequently
the piccolo and E llart clarinet are
to sound together, fbr instance) and the
eclectic selection of percussion instruments
of which he avails himsclf, Langgaard
was easily carried away by his emotions
and in many of his rnajor works he
anticipates composers such as lves.
Hindemith and Messi:rcn. But wherever
Langgaard fbund his inspiration, his nrusiu
was rrerer lcss than religiou.: it was
through his compositions that hc fought
hi. religiorr. strugglc. At thc \ame tirne.
dcspite the bizarre titles :rnd programme
notes some of Lhe works bore - strange
word combirtations of hi. outt ittretttiott,
and onomatopoeic words as headings for
Lhe works - his music is also absolutely
"pure" music. An example of his choice
of words would be the direction to play
sonlething "white-l.rot"; alr'rong his tenrpo
indicatiorrs are to be found "furioso mortrf'ero",
"schnervolc" (mockingly) and
"pesantc colerico". Other rcplacements
Ibr the more common character indications
included those inspirecl by naLure,
such as "Forcst Roar". "Brightening
Weathcr" arrd "Thunderclor-rds". Such
ambiguos titlcs n-right create the imprcssion
that Langgaarcl's music is little more
than Lhe undisciplined music of' ecstasy.
but in fact hc is always in control of the
physrcal framework of his seLtings, and
as a symphonic poet he is a grcat storyteller.
But in thc symphonies - which
would be more properly classed as symphonic
poems. :rs thcy are not in a classical
sense symphonic ol form - his choice
of title and descriptions frequently
crcatcs more confusion than cl:rrification.
Langgaard has bcen criticized for recycling
ofien lairly large chunks of earlier
pieces in ncw works, but he could see
nothinB urung in relurnirrg to emotions
and moods that held him on earlicr occasjons
and quoting them in new works
uhcrc lhc nrcssJge he wus trling to get
Jcr!)ss wi.is I hc :antc. Thesc emolions a rc
easily recognized given Langgaard's clever
utilization of all the orchestra's possibilities:
lrom the ironic and sarcastic to
thc transfigured, appealing ancl profor-rndly
fcrvent. Langgaard mastered the
harmonic tonal idiom to perfection, and
saw in it the enduring capacity of music
to af-fect the hurnan spirit.
His missron went through music and
when he sat composing, frequently vcry
carly in the moming, thc music would
seize him so that the end result - howcver
pastiche-like and rhapsodic it might at
times seem - always bore witness to an
honest and genuinc human struggle, onc
that lcaves no-one untouched.

Symphony no. 2 "Break of Spring"
Langgaard produced the first sketches
fbr his second symphony during March
1912, but it was not until the summer holiday
that he spent with his parents in Kyrkhult
in Blekinge, Sweden, betwccn June
and August of that year that the final draft
was completed. The following ycar, after
the succesful perfbrmance in Berlin in April
1913 of his lirst symphony, the fan.rily was
back in Blekingc fbr its summer holidays,
and work on the second symphony oontrnucd.
Thc young Langgaard was at the tin.rc
much taken by thc work of the German
poet Emil Rittershaus, who was reprcscnted
with several volumes in his parents' library,
and Langgaard composed a number
ofsongs to texts by Rittershaus in the years
to 1916. By March l9lzl Langgaard had
completed the orchcstration of the symphony
and incorporated in the last movement a
soprano solo to words by Rittershaus. The
text derives in fact from two poems:
"Lcnzkldnge" ("Sounds of Spring") and
"Im Lenze" ("ln Spring"), ll"onr the anthology
"Natur". Eight months later, in
November lql4. thc slmphony was given
its first performance at the Danish Concert
Society in Copcnhagen by the composer
Louis Glass who, incidentally. had also incorporated
a vocal part in his own second
symphony. The Langgaard work was given
again in 1917, this trme with Langgaard
himself conducting, and in the Ibllowing
years it was played in Germany, in Essen
and Berlin, and broadcast in South Germany.
ln 1922 Langgaard heard a perfbrmance
of it in Vienna.
In its original version the symphony was
in three movements and playcd lbr 40 minutes,
but in June 1926 Langgaard commenced
a revision. and only in 1933 did it
find its tlnal tbrni. The symphony as we
hear it today differs from the origir.ral vcrsion
primarill in thrt the first two movements
have become one, and that approximatly
half of the material of the first
movement has been excised. For the first
perlbrmance of the newversion in 1948 - under
the dircction ofLauny Grondahl - the title
had also been changed, from
"Vaarbrud" lo "Valrsrrtge".
More than anything elsc it was nature that
ir.rspirecl the early works. From the songs
with their celebration of spring to the summery
nature of the piano works with titles
such as "Summer Day", "Morning at the
Beach" and "Night-timc on the Sound"; to
the trio entitled "Mountain Blossom" and
finally to the desoriptions of nature in the
first symphony there is the same, wonderfully
sensitive blend of nature symbolism and
pict1. Progranrme musie in the strict scnsc it
is not; nor is it thc outer, more or less random
f'ace of nature Langgaard is attempting
to record, but the stirrings of the human
soul that are awakened through coexistence
with nature.

Hor'ich rings die Lerchcn singen
Wenn:o mild die Sonne scheint,
Ist es mir, als Hritt' ich nimmer
Trdnen auf der Welt gcwcint
Und ich glaub' das alte Mrirchen
Dass die Lerchen hoch im Blau'n
Unserm Herrgott in den Himmel
und die schonen Engel schaun!
Schau die Birken und die Buchen
Tragen schon ihr Sonntagskleid.
Denn der Sonntag fiir die Erde
Ist die Liebe Friihlingszeit.
Hundertstimmig singt und klingt es A hundred voices sing the mcssage
Durch die Felder, durch dcn Hag:
"Sei gegriisst nach kalten Tagen
Sei gegriisst, du Sonnentag!"
Weisse Glocklcin auf der Wiese
Lauteten den Sonntag an;
Duft'ge Blumcn haben ihre
Schonen Augen aufgethan
In des Windes leisem Rauschen
Tont's wie ferner Orgelschall,
Und die allerschonstc Predigt
Hrilt im Wald die Nachtigali
Freu'dich, Herz, im Sonnenglanz
O, lass die volle Lenzespr:rcht
Durch deiner Seele schweben.
Emil Ritter"ghttus
When I hear thc lark sing,
When the sun shines bright,
It sccms to me that I have never
Shed tears upon this earth.
Then I believe the old tale
That the larks on high
Our lord God in Heaven
And his wondrous angels can see!
Scc, the birch and the beech
Are already in their Sunday best
For, for the earth, Sunday
ls the precious springtime.
Across the ficlds and meadows:
GreeLings, after all the cold days,
Greetings, dc:rr Sunday.
White snowdrops on the meadow
Ring in the day,
Sweet-scented Ilowers
Lift their eycs in greeLing.
Through the gentle rustling of the breeze
It sounds like a distant organ.
And in thc wood the nightingale
Holds the most beautiful sermon of all.
Rejoice. heart, in the brilliance of the sun.
Let the full glory of the spring
Flow through your soul.

Symphony no. 3 "Rustlc of Youtli"
("La melodia")
Lzrnggaard's tirst attenrpt at a real concerto
for piano and orchcstra was made in
1915, with Koncert Allegro alla Fantasia
for piano solo which was transformed into
a Koncert alla Fantasia tbr piano :rnd orchcstra.
By March 1916 this Koncert alla
Fantasia had found its final fonn as a symphony
(no. 3) for piano and orchestra (and
mixed chorus ad lib-) Already with his sccond
symphony Langgaard had relaxed the
classical form. and thc rigid conccrto lbrm
would presumably have held no interest for
him (he never did complctc a classical solo
concerto and left only a very short movement
1'or a violin conccrto). although he
did, in 1935, revise and arrange some Llnpublished
works in this form by his father,
Siegliied Langgaard.
The symphony was givcn its lirst perfbrmance
in Coperrhagen in 1918" with Victor
Schiolcr at the keyboirrd and the composer
conducting. As a motto for thc symphony
Langgaard had noted the fbllowing lines, a
poem attributed to Axel Lunclcgaarcl: Eternal
light, holy f1ame, alwzrys changing. forever
the same. Always dying, forcvcr running.
:rlways seeking, never finding.
Greetings, sacred force, thc light of truth
gave us lile.
After the conccrt Severin Christensen
of the journal "Musik" notcd thc following
rcflccLions on the third symphony:
There were plcasrng dctails in La Melodia.
The deploymerrt of the'piano as an ordin:rry
orehcstrrtl irrstrurnent uc5 intere\lirlq
and produced an cxceptionally bcautilul
sound. The symphony's motto clearly establishes
thc spirit and decides the lbrm.
Alier the introduction with a first-rate. energetic
and niccly-turned m:rin theme, the
organic unity is broken in two by a quite
wonderftrl. funcral march-llke grote maeslo.ro;
that it is repeated, unchanged, ir
couple of timcs contradicts Lhe motto. The
last section struck me as being thc most importa
nt one: there is here a mystical.
"double" mood about the motifs, ancl at
thc cnd there appears a version of La Melodia
as wonderl'ully sublime and bcautiful
as anything in Danish music. A strangely
conrposite thiurosturo lies across this closing
scction - ir piece ol'music such as this
should suffice to establish this composcr's
rcputation as an outstanding symphonist.
As with thc second symphony Langga:rrd
reverted to the work at the end ofthe
I 920's and madc scveral revisions and cuts,
Ieaving the 30-odd minutes of the prcscnt
version. ln 193.1 Lhe symphony was performed
by the state broadcasting systcm,
albcit without chorus, with Emil Reesen
conducting. This Langgaarcl's firsL onemovement
symphony was given titles such
as "Sounds of Miclsummer" and "Melodies
of Youth" besides La Mclodia before
Langgaard seLLled for "Rustle of Youth".

Drapa
(Upon the Death of Edvard Grieg)
Two nronths aftcr thc con'rpletion of
the grcat wotk Musue lriumplktntes. Ihc
young Langgaard composed Drapa betwccn
the months of April anci July of
1907. The subtitlc "Upon the Death of
Edvard Grieg" was in tact adcicd only af:
ter the work hacl been completed. in that
Gricg died on z[ September 1907. Gricg
had contact to thc Langgaards on a numbcr
of occasions; he had bccn prcsent at
the young Rued's organ concert at Copenhagen's
"Marble Church" on 7 April
1905 and had sent the boy's rnothcr :t
note marking his respect.
Drapa is the Old Norse word lbr thc
Icelandic hcro legends and religious
poems. They are rooted in ninth century
Norway and deal with the feats of princes
and kings.
In 1909 - probably during a summcr
holiday in Tulscbocla Brunn, Sweden -
the work was reorchestratcd and on 6 December
1909 tlie first perfbrmance was
given at the Danish Conoert SocieLy under
the dircction of the composer Victor
Bendir.
Thc producer would like to thank thc fbllowing
individuals and foundations:
Messrs. Sten Uldal and Bcndt Viinholt
Niclscn.
I-anggaard Fondcn
Hotelejer Andreas H:Lrboes Fond
Augustinus Fonden
Konsul Gcorgc Jorck og hustru Emma
Jorck's Fond
Johannc og Ejnar- Flach-Bundegaards
Fond.
,lJesper Buhl
English translation: Pcr Sommerschield.
llya Stupel - a rising star in thc musical
firmament who has been described as one
of the greatest conducting talcnts in the
world - w:rs born on 13th Decembcr 1949
irr Vilnius. Lithrr;rnia. He grew up irr a
family whose rich musical traditions went
back for scvcral generatjons. He first
started playjng the piano aged only three,
and was rcfcrred to as a child prodigy after
he had joined the Conscrvalory tn Vilnius.
h.r 1957 Ilya Stupel moved to Poland
where he continued his musical
training; at the san'le time he was cngaged
as assistant to Lhe famous conductor and
teacher Bohdan Wodiczko of the Katowice
Radio Symphony Orchestra
(WOSPR). Stupel's Jcwish descent has
had a strong bearing on his fortunes, ancl
every time his carecr has seemed to be in
thc ascend:rnt he and his farnily have
been fbrced to tcar up their roots and
sLart again in another collntry. So it was
that in 1968 Stupcl and his family left Poland
ar-rd settled in their prcsent home
country. Swcdcn.

Aftcr comprehensivc studies in Lithuania,
Poland, Sweden, Deumark and Italy
(conducting, conrposition, piano and
jazz) Stupel devoted hir.r.rsclf to composing
and to his new appointmcnt as cotiductor
at the Malmo Municipal Theatrc.
After a number of years of work in Scandinavia
(as Heacl of Music at the thcatre
in Hclsingbolg irnd ilpncilrrlree\ in
Malmo, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagcn.
Aalborg. Aarhus ctc.) and beyond
(U.S.A., Spain, Frnnce), he was in 1990
appointed Head of the renowned Artur
Rubinstcin Philharmonic Orchestra in
Lodz, Polancl, which has workcd with
such conductors as Stokowsky, Kletzki
and Khatchaturi:rn.
Ctitics have declarcd untrnimously thitt
Stupel's grcat strength as a conductor is
his ability, by means of his unorthodox
interpret:Ltions. ful1 of vitality and sheer
musicianship, to rcach ouL to every siltgle
membcr of his audiencc, tts wiLness the
enlhusiasm that grcets all his perfonlances
and fbllows him from appearance to
appeafance.
Ilya Stupel
'
and the Artur Rubinstcin
Philharmonic Orchestra on Danacord:
Carl Orff
Carmina Burana
DACOCD 4(.)()
Medtncr
Piano Conccrto no. I
with Geoffrey Douglas Madge
DACOCD 401
Medtner
Piano Concerto no. 2
with Gcoffrey Douglas Madgc
DACOCD 402
Medtner
Piano Conccrto no. 3
with Geollrey Douglas M:rdge
DACOCD 403
Langgaard
Syrnphony no. I
DACOCD 404
Langgaard
Syniphonies nos. 2 and 3
DACOCD 405
Langgaard
Symphonics nos. 4 and 6
DACOCD 406
I-anggaard
Symphonies nos. 5, 7 and 9
DACOCD 407
Langgaard
Symphonies nos. 10, 1 l and l 2
DACOCD 408
Langgaard
Syn.rphonies nos. 8, 14 and 15
DACOCD 409
Langgaard
Symphonies nos. l3 and l6
DACOCD 4I()