Rued Langgaard
Friday, April 8, 2022
Barbican Hall, London
In a concert that included Nicola Benedetti playing Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Violin Concerto (in which the composer incorporates some of his wonderful Hollywood movie themes) – this rather languorous performance found her a little thin-toned in the highest register if affectionate with the music, nicely intimate in the slow movement, and spirited, without rushing, in the Finale, enjoying a smart and detailed accompaniment (incidentally the BBCSO’s leader, Stephen Bryant, also plays this Concerto; some years ago there was an excellent broadcast recording of it with Andrew Litton conducting) – it was nevertheless the concert’s other work that was the main interest, especially as, for me, it’s new. (Beforehand, Benedetti had offered a gypsy-tango-like encore, with orchestra; a very familiar tune, but I’d be on my Gade to name it.)
So, it was Rued Langgaard’s First Symphony (‘Klippepastoraler’; Mountain Pastorals; completed in 1911, Langgaard still a teenager) that then came into aural view, an expansive romantic work (fifty-six minutes here) in five movements (the outer ones being the longest) scored for large orchestra, music full of scenic description, melody and embrace; plenty of thrills and colour, too, and not forgetting whopping climaxes, inviting correspondences with Richard Strauss (his Alpine Symphony was a few years away), Schreker, Pfitzner and Zemlinsky.
Langgaard (1893-1952), for long an obscure composer if remaining a prolific one (there are sixteen varied Symphonies, all now recorded) even when he became something of an outcast in his native Denmark (this Symphony was premiered in Berlin). The twenty-minute first movement is terrific, the second one (strings and horns) quite lovely, suggesting Scriabin’s Piano Concerto and indeed his First Symphony. The third movement, also slow, is dark and mysterious, while the fourth is robust and ceremonial, and the Finale strives, and pauses, involves complex counterpoint, and paints pictures of stormy elements being battled, en route to an opulent conclusion, calling for extra brass.
A real discovery, then, in this splendid performance. I wonder if Chandos will be recording this ambitious and worthwhile opus? Hope so; keen to hear it again.
Just announced: Sakari Oramo’s BBCSO contract has been extended – until summer 2026.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0015v59
https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/885/Rued-Langgaard/
Korngold’s Violin Concerto was largely finished before he left Vienna. He took the manuscript and his copious sketches and drafts with him to Hollywood and made a vow to himself not to write any serious music so long as Hitler was in power. To keep body and soul together, and to look after his family (including his father) he did the only thing he could – write music for films. The pressure on completing a score for a film meant that urgent time constraints were such that normal compositional standards no longer applied. Very occasionally, and only for a couple of films, he used themes from the Violin Concerto, believing that the use of his film music was essentially ephemeral. Only after Hitler was dead did Korngold return to the Violin Concerto and completed the score; the work does not use themes from the films, it was the other way about.
How fascinating Bob.
This overturns every story I have read as to how themes from Errol Flynn’s epics appear in the Concerto!
Never mind. It remains a gorgeous wallow.
Langaard’s 4th Symphony “Lovfald” is also worth exploring. It is amusingly translated on the record cover of an EMI Danish recording as “Defoliation” and I quote the first paragraph of the record sleeve “During his Life Rued Langaards person, more than his music, attracted the attention of the public. People eagerly told all the stories of the overexcited eccentric who walked about in high-heeled shoes. his trousers too short, with a long coat and long hair under a very broadbrimmed hat. Although his music was played from time to time – well abroad, where it was extremely received (sic) – he was disowned by the contemporary Danish public to such an extent, that one could call it “music-murder”.
Lovfald/Defoliation is nonetheless an interesting piece excellently played on this recording by the Danmarks Radio Orchestra under John Frandsen.
A message from Sakari Oramo: “In fact I will record this symphony for Da Capo with the Berlin Philharmonic in June this year…”.
Re Sakari Oramo’s message, that’s good news that he will be recording Lovfald for Da Capo. It certainly deserves a new recording after all these years. And also good to see the involvement of the Berlin Philharmonic. (As older vinyl collectors may remember, they made a really excellent recording of Berwald’s Symphonie Singulière and 3rd Symphony with Markevitch in, if my memory serves me right, the late1950’s (DGM 18317)
No Douglas, Sakari is recording Klippepastoraler Symphony, Langgaard No.1, in Berlin, a response prompted by my Chandos query. He may of course also document Lovfald one day. Colin