RUED LANGGAARD Complete Works for Violin and Piano Vol. 2

Rued Langgaard Complete Works for Violin and Piano Vol. 2 Gunvor Sihm, Berit Johansen Tange Per Salo, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Søndergård Rued Langgaard Sonata No. 1 ‘Viole’, BVN 94 (1915; rev. 1945) �� 40:07 for violin and piano I. Maestoso fiero espressivo ( = 100) – Non mosso – Più tranquillo, Più lento – Vol. 2 q Complete Works for Violin and Piano Tempo l – Agitato – Lento glorioso – A tempo – Più allargando – Maestoso fiero (Tempo l) – Più lento – Poco meno mosso – A tempo l – Maestoso fiero �� 13:46 Gunvor Sihm violin Berit Johansen Tange piano ii. Molto allegro scherzoso – Tempo alla valse! – Più tranquillo – [Tempo l] – Presto molto agitato �� 6:43 Per Salo, organ - iii. Lento cogitoso – Con moto – Tranquillo – Con moto – Lento cogitoso – Danish National Symphony Orchestra Tranquillo �� 8:45 Thomas Søndergård, conductor iv. Molto allegro marcato – Slargando – Tranquillo – Allargando festivo – Alla marcia risoluto – Allegro molto risoluto – Molto allegro �� 10:52

Andante religioso, BVN 407 (1950) �� 4:27 for violin and piano [Andante] – Hurtigere (faster) – Andante

Søndagssonate (Sunday Sonata) *, BVN 393 (1949-50) �� 14:27 for violin, piano, organ and orchestra i. Poco allegro marcato ( q = 96) violin and piano �� 6:27 ii. Langsomt, indtrængende (Slowly, earnestly) ( q = 66) violin and piano �� 2:30 h = 50 organ �� 2:43 q = 76 – Moderato ( q = 76 Strengt i Takt (Strictly in time)) – Omtrent Presto, Præcist og eftertrykkeligt (Nearly Presto, precisely and emphatically) ( h = 76) – Hurtigere! (Faster!) – Presto – q = 80 organ and orchestra �� 2:47

Total: 59:03 Dacapo is supported by the * World premiere recording Rued Langgaard by Bendt Viinholt Nielsen

Rued Langgaard was born on 28 July 1893 in Copenhagen and died on 10 July 1952 in Ribe. Already as an 11-year-old boy he had a remarkable debut as an organist and organ improviser, and when he was nineteen his first symphony had its first performance in Berlin by the Berlin Philharmonic. In the early 1920s, Langgaard experienced a brief interest in his symphonic works in Germany, where his most progressive compositions, Music of the Spheres (1916-18) and Symphony No. 6 (1919-20) had their first performances. In Denmark, however, the music scene regarded the introverted and solitary soul-filled composer with considerable scepticism. An artistic breakthrough never came, and after Langgaard had had his opera Antichrist turned down by the Royal Danish Theatre, he reacted strongly by turning his back on modernism and openly criticising Danish musical life. Langgaard’s religiously and symbolically tinged conception of music accorded badly with the anti-Romantic, down-to-earth attitude that predominated in Denmark after 1930. Musical life followed the norms and the aesthetical track laid down by Carl Nielsen, and there was no room for an eccentric Romantic like Langgaard. After a struggle last- ing many years to gain a position as organist within the Danish state church, in 1940 Langgaard was appointed cathedral organist in Ribe. After his death in 1952, it looked as if he would remain a parenthesis in Danish musical history. A performance of Music of the Spheres in 1968, however, started a renaissance for Langgaard’s music, and today, now that his main works are known, he is counted among the most important Danish composers of the 20th century. Rued Langgaard’s music is characterised by great stylistic variation. His works are often complex and unconventional in form and borne by a striving towards expressive, image-creating and visionary modes of expression. In his music there are elements that point forward to the 1960s and the avant-garde, minimalism and postmodernism of subsequent decades.

Rued Langgaard’s works for violin and piano 1907-1950 Langgaard’s compositions for violin and piano are like fixed points in his production, since all four main phases of his musical development are represented within this genre. A sonata in three movements with the title Digtning – Rosengaarden in memoriam (Poetry – Rosengaarden

Rued Langaard 1918 5 in memoriam) (1918) would have been an interesting supplement, but the work has quite simply Almost 25 years were to pass before Langgaard contributed once more to the violin sonata disappeared and must therefore be dispensed with in this collected recording of Langgaard’s genre. In the meantime he had drastically changed his musical idiom and adopted a neo- compositions for violin and piano, which comprises three CDs. The early, incomplete sonata as Romantic style of composition that was a continuation of compositions by such composers as well as the peculiar Sunday Sonata are being issued for the first time on a CD. Schumann, Wagner, Grieg and Niels W. Gade. In 1940, together with his wife Constance, he had Langgaard was taught the violin as a child, but only for a short while, for at the early age of moved from Copenhagen to Ribe to take up a post as organist and precentor at Ribe Cathedral. ten he began to study the organ, which was to become his main instrument. The impulse to write The 1930s had been a disheartening decade for the composer, and his composing had come music for the violin was, however, a completely natural one, as his aunt was married to the violinist to a halt. In Ribe his creativity returned, and in 1945 he wrote an extremely short violin sonata Axel Gade (1860-1921), son of Niels W. Gade and for a long period the leader of the Royal Danish in one movement with nothing but repetitions, a work that in the following years was expanded Orchestra – and incidentally also a composer. Langgaard’s first work for the violin, Aubade (1907), time after time, until it had five movements and the title Sonata No. 3 in 1949. It is an example of is dedicated to Axel Gade, who gave it its first performance. The first major chamber music work Langgaard in a solely Romantic, nostalgic mood. But this work was succeeded by a whole series that Langgaard began after his grandiose B minor Symphony (No. 1) was a sonata for violin and of new works for violin and piano, inspired by his collaboration with the violinist Håkon Raskmark, piano (also in B minor), which he worked on between 1909-11. Only the first two movements were who came to Ribe in 1946 as a teacher at Ribe Teacher Training College. Langgaard and Rask completed. They were performed separately in 1911 as independent pieces on their first perform- mark played together privately, especially Romantic sonatas such as those by César Franck ance by Axel Gade and the then 18-year-old composer. Four years later, Langgaard composed and Schumann, whose late sonatas were clearly a source of inspiration to Langgaard. In the what was going to be his most comprehensive chamber music work, the 40-minute-long Violin veritable ‘musical frenzy’ that seized Langgaard in 1947-49, he wrote 14 pieces or movements Sonata No. 1. This work was composed in only four days in June 1915. Like the unfinished sonata for violin and piano. They were composed individually or in pairs and partly placed in the already and the almost contemporaneous String Quartet No. 1, in musical idiom and form it looks towards mentioned Sonata No. 3, partly grouped in Sonata No. 4 and in Écrasez l’infâme, both of which classical ideals. Sonata No. 1 was performed by Axel Gade in 1918 and was posthumously dedi- are key works in Langgaard’s late production. Added to these was Short Violin Sonata (1949), cated to him. But at the first performance in Stockholm, two years earlier, it featured the 25-year- followed in 1950 by Andante religioso, which was performed in Ribe the same year. Apart from old Danish violinist Gunna Breuning-Storm, with the composer of the same age at the piano. this piece, the works from the 1940s were not publicly performed during Langgaard’s lifetime. Breuning-Storm was one of the few musicians who appreciated Langgaard’s music, and it Sonata No. 3 only had its first performance as late as 1995, and at the Rued Langgaard Festival was naturally with her in mind that Langgaard, in 1920-21, wrote another sonata for violin and 2016 in Ribe it was possible for the first time to hear Sunday Sonata from 1949-50. The two first piano (No. 2). Breuning-Storm gave the sonata its first performance together with the composer movements are for violin and piano, the last two for organ and orchestra. in 1922 and played it a few more times during the 1920s, so for instance at an official Danish Only Aubade and Sonata No. 2 were published in Langgaard’s lifetime, the other violin works concert in Paris in 1923. Langgaard was not present, but Carl Nielsen – who also had a work recorded here are based on the Rued Langgaard Edition’s critical musical material published included in the programme – was. In Sonata No. 2, Langgaard has clearly allowed himself to be in 2002-04. The BVN numbers used refer to Bent Viinholt Nielsen: Rued Langgaards Komposi inspired by Nielsen’s powerful musical idiom, which is however integrated into an experimental tioner. Annoteret værkfortegnelse. Rued Langgaard’s Compositions. An Annotated Catalogue of work in a single movement and with stark contrasts. The sonata, along with other works from Works. With an English Introduction, Odense Universitetsforlag (1991). 1920-24 – Symphony No. 6, the opera Antichrist and String Quartet No. 3 – is counted among Langgaard’s major works. It was published in Berlin in 1922. 6 7 Violin Sonata No. 1 (1915, rev. 1945) chromatics and high diatonics is the actual hub of the movement, while the chorale-like second During the summer of 1915, Rued Langgaard spent two and a half months at Tyringe Bathing subject (Più lento) plays a subordinate role (it is presented by the piano, accompanied by the Sanatorium in Scania (Southern Sweden). Sonata No. 1 (E minor) was composed in the course violin!). In the development section (Agitato) a reminiscence of the second subject occurs, with of four days in mid-June, and before the month was over, a fair copy had been made. The sonata the marking Lento glorioso. A distinctive, Langgaardean feature is to be found in the inter was given its first performance by Gunna Breuning-Storm and Langgaard in Stockholm on 17 mediate section of the scherzo movement, where a waltz motif gropes its way forward without January 1916. The feared Swedish music critic, the composer Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, wrote ever getting off the mark. The slow third movement (G major) is improvisational and thoughtful in his review in the daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter that the impression the work gave was in mood, which corresponds very well to the indication Lento cogitoso (thoughtful, mournful), somewhat unclear and uneven, although he pointed out that the 22-year-old composer naturally although the movement was originally marked Lento molto e molto amoroso. The concluding, had a long future ahead of him. Two years later (on 7 January 1918), the work was presented fiery finale is tonally more varied than the other movements but retains the E minor key. in Denmark by Langgaard and his uncle, the Royal Danish Orchestra leader Axel Gade. This performance took place for a private audience at the Private Chamber Music Association. Andante religioso (1950) The sonata was not performed again in Langgaard’s lifetime, but the composer did not lose This is Langgaard’s last work for violin, composed on 6 September 1950. In actual fact, the interest in this early work. In 1945, 30 years after its completion, he set about revising the com- composer prescribes violin accompanied by organ without pedals, but the accompaniment is position. He left movements II and IV practically untouched, but thoroughly revised movements of a piano-like nature, and the piece has often been performed with piano accompaniment. The I and III, without, however, changing the actual form of the movements. At the same time, he composition was first performed in Ribe Cathedral on 17 December 1950 by Håkon Raskmark posthumously dedicated the sonata to Axel Gade, who had died in 1921. and Rued Langgaard (organ) at a Christmas concert where the star attraction was the Danish In connection with the revision, the sonata was given the French word ’Viole’ as its title. It can singer Aksel Schiøtz. be seen from the manuscripts that Langgaard had envisaged that the solo voice could alterna- tively be performed on a ‘viole’, by which he means a viola. But a viola is called ‘alto’ in French, Sunday Sonata (1949-50) whereas ‘viole’ means a ‘viol’, i.e. the Renaissance instrument viola da gamba. The misunder- Sunday Sonata is one of Langgaard’s most bizarre and unpredictable compositions. The work standing is probably due to a dictionary error, since the available Danish-French dictionaries of comprises three originally separate compositions: Sunday Sonata (movements I and II) for the time erroneously translate ‘viole’ by ‘viola, bratsch’. Another thing is that it is not immediately violin and piano, the organ piece Marble Church Prelude (movement III) and the so-called Small feasible to perform the work on a piano and viola, even though Langgaard has evidently wished Grand Symphony No. 1 for orchestra with organ (movement IV). The three sections of the last- for a more sonorous sound in the solo instrument – in the first movement, at any rate, where mentioned – a signal, an organ section and an orchestral piece – had the headings Curse, Angel long passages are written to be performed on the G and D strings. So, the title makes most Avenue and The lightning explodes in the night. In May 1950, Langgaard realised that he could sense if it is thought of as being a poetical title and a cadeau to the solo instrument. create a more effective whole by combining the three works. With the addition of seven bars to The work stays within the traditional framework of the sonata, and the musical idiom is movement II and the removal of the title to movement III and the headings mentioned in move- retrospective. In the first movement, the violin enters with an unusually low, chromatic theme, ment IV, Sunday Sonata came into being, with the subtitle Small Grand Symphony. played on the G string of the violin, that works its way upwards with more chromatics until it Langgaard immediately sent the score to Danish Broadcasting Corporation as a programme suddenly reaches a high point with quick, high scale-like movements. This contrast between low suggestion. No notice of it was taken, however, and it was placed in the Radio music archive, 8 9 where it was not localised until as late as 1988. The first performance took place during the Rued Langgaard Festival 2016 in Ribe Cathedral and featured Gunvor Sihm, Berit Johansen Tange, the cathedral organist Birgitte Ebert and the South Jutland Symphony Orchestra, con- ducted by Thomas Dausgaard. The first movement is a vigorous, freely formed sonata movement in F major that has a cer- tain humorous touch. The slow second movement (A flat major) finally modulates into F major, from where the organ takes over (movement III) and adds a church-like dimension to the established reverential mood. Movement IV begins with a fate-motif with an augmented fourth (tritonus) on brass and kettle-drums, after which the religious mood from movement III is contin- ued on the organ. Suddenly, everything is shattered by the full orchestra (with 8 French horns) in 10 wildly gesticulating bars that contain a variant of the fate-motif, followed by glissandos (marked ‘as lightning’) in the deep strings (!), an eight times repeated D on the brass instruments (perhaps imitating a bell) and a final D minor chord. Langgaard gave no indication of how the seemingly trustworthy title Sunday Sonata is to be understood with regard to the unusual form of the work and the chaotic conclusion. To Langgaard, lighting has an apocalyptic significance (As Lightning Cometh Christ Again is the title of one of Langgaard’s organ pieces), so it seems natural to interpret the work as portray- ing cataclysmic destruction, in which beauty, in a Romantic sense, is replaced by decline and disaster. But, like so many of Langgaard’s other late works, the work also has an ‘autobiographi- cal’ dimension. The ending can be seen as a protest, a fist pounded on the table, where the composer expresses his powerlessness and displays the absurd situation in which he finds himself as an idealistic ‘cultural composer’ in a society that has no use for his music, and in which cultural life, in his opinion, has become impoverished and without inspiration. © Bendt Viinholt Nielsen, 2018

Berit Johansen Tange and Gunvor Sihm

10 11 Gunvor Sihm trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, from where she graduated in Per Salo has been a pianist with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra since 1989, where he 2014 under Professor Serguei Azizian. Before that Gunvor studied 2 years at San Francisco also functions as an organist and harpsichord player. He studied in Denmark, USA and Italy, and Conservatory of Music with Ian Swensen. Gunvor Sihm has won several prizes, among others is extremely active as both a soloist and chamber musician, particularly within the field of new the prestigious Van Hauen’s Music Prize 2011, the Eigil Harby Foundation’s scholarship in 2015 music. He has given first performances of numerous Danish works, many of which were written and Gladsaxe Music Prize 2018. From 2011-15 Gunvor played in the 1st violins of Copenhagen specifically for him, including Per Nørgård’s Piano Concerto. Phil, until she won the position as 2nd Concertmaster for the 2nd violins of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Gunvor was a soloist with among others Odense Symphony Orchestra, The Danish National Symphony Orchestra has been the musical flagship of Danmarks Radio Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Tivoli Copenhagen Phil, Danish National Chamber Orchestra since 1925, and today is an orchestra of international calibre with Fabio Luisi as its principal con- and, on several occasions, Copenhagen Phil. With Nightingale String Quartet Gunvor Sihm ductor. The orchestra’s Thursday Concerts are listened to every season by 450,000 Danes on has recorded the complete string quartets by Rued Langgaard for Dacapo. The series has radio and TV, with millions more also listening when the concerts are transmitted internationally. received worldwide critical acclaim, highlighted as ‘Chamber Choice’ in BBC Music Magazine, ‘Choice’ in Gramophone Magazine, as well as being awarded a DR P2 Prize. The quartet was Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård is Music Director of Royal Scottish National Orchestra, in 2014 named ‘Gramophone Young Artist of the Year’ for the Langgaard recording series and a position he took up upon leaving BBC National Orchestra of Wales. A highly regarded received the honorary award from The Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen Foundation opera and symphonic conductor, he has appeared extensively throughout Scandinavia and in 2017. Gunvor trained violin and chamber music with Serguei Azizian and Tim Frederiksen, Europe and has a rising North America profile, where plans include his US opera and Chicago who both have served as mentors. She plays a Guarnerius anno 1725, kindly on loan from the Symphony debuts. Augustinus Foundation.

The pianist Berit Johansen Tange trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Anne Øland and made her debut from the chamber music class in 2000. She has since 2002 held a position at the Academy as an accompanist and coach. Berit has performed as accompanist, chamber musician and soloist on numerous occasions, also outside Denmark, in Sweden, Finland, Scotland, France, Singapore and Malaysia. Berit has worked intensely with the music of Rued Langgaard. Besides the works for violin and piano it also applies to Langgaard’s solo piano music and songs, and she performs every year at the Rued Langgaard Festival in Ribe. Berit has released three CDs with the works for solo piano by Langgaard on Dacapo, of which the first volume was nominated for a DR P2 Prize. Berit Johansen Tange is co-editor of The Rued Lang- gaard Edition: Collected works for piano, published by Edition Wilhelm Hansen (2018).

12 13 Rued Langgaard af Bendt Viinholt Nielsen Langgaards kompositioner for violin og klaver, omfattende tre cd’er. Den tidlige, ufuldendte sonate og den besynderlige Søndagssonate udgives for første gang på cd. Langgaard blev undervist i violinspil som barn, men kun i kort tid, for allerede i tiårsalderen Rued Langgaard blev født 28. juli 1893 i København og døde 10. juli 1952 i Ribe. Allerede som kastede han sig over orglet, som blev hans egentlige instrument. Hans tilskyndelse til at skrive elleveårig havde han en bemærkelsesværdig debut som organist og orgelimprovisator, og da han violinværker lå dog lige for, idet hans faster var gift med violinisten Axel Gade (1860-1921), var nitten, blev hans første symfoni uropført i Berlin af Berlinerfilharmonikerne. I begyndelsen af søn af Niels W. Gade og i en lang årrække koncertmester i Det Kongelige Kapel – i øvrigt 1920rne oplevede Langgaard en kortvarig interesse for sine symfoniske værker i Tyskland, hvor også komponist. Langgaards første violinværk, Aubade (1907), er tilegnet Axel Gade og blev hans mest progressive kompositioner, Sfærernes Musik (1916-18) og Symfoni nr. 6 (1919-20), blev uropført af ham. Det første større kammermusikværk, Langgaard påbegyndte i forlængelse af uropført. I Danmark betragtede musikmiljøet imidlertid den indesluttede og enspænderagtige sin grandiose h‑mol-symfoni (nr. 1), var en sonate for violin og klaver (også i h-mol), som han komponist med betydelig skepsis. Et kunstnerisk gennembrud udeblev, og efter at Langgaard arbejdede på 1909-11. Kun de to første satser blev fuldført. De blev uropført hver for sig som i midten af 1920rne havde fået sin opera Antikrist afvist af Det Kongelige Teater, reagerede selvstændige satser i 1911 af Axel Gade og den dengang 18-årige komponist. Fire år senere han kraftigt ved at vende modernismen ryggen og rette åben kritik mod det danske musikliv. komponerede Langgaard, hvad der skulle blive hans mest omfattende kammermusikværk, den Langgaards religiøst og symbolistisk farvede musikopfattelse harmonerede dårligt med den 40 minutter lange Sonate nr. 1. Sonaten blev skabt i løbet af blot fire dage i juni 1915. Ligesom antiromantiske og nøgterne holdning, der blev dominerende i Danmark efter 1930. Musiklivet i den ufuldendte sonate og den næsten samtidige Strygekvartet nr. 1 er tonesprog og form fulgte de normer og det æstetiske spor, Carl Nielsen havde udstukket, og der var ikke plads til orienteret mod klassiske idealer. Sonate nr. 1 blev opført af Axel Gade i 1918 og blev posthumt en excentrisk romantiker som Langgaard. Efter mange års kamp for at opnå et embede som tilegnet hans minde. Men ved uropførelsen i Stockholm, to år tidligere, var det dog den 25-årige organist i den danske folkekirke blev Langgaard i 1940 udnævnt til domorganist i Ribe. Efter hans violinist Gunna Breuning-Storm, der var solist med den jævnaldrende komponist ved klaveret. død i 1952 så det ud til, at han skulle forblive en parentes i dansk musikhistorie. En opførelse i Breuning-Storm var en af de få musikere, der gik ind for Langgaards musik, og det var givetvis 1968 af Sfærernes Musik satte imidlertid gang i en renæssance for Langgaards musik, og i dag, med hende i tankerne, at Langgaard i 1920-21 skrev endnu en sonate for violin og klaver (nr. 2). hvor hans hovedværker er blevet kendt, regnes han blandt det 20. århundredes betydeligste Breuning-Storm uropførte sonaten sammen med komponisten i 1922 og spillede den endnu danske komponister. Rued Langgaards musik er karakteriseret ved stor stilmæssig variation. et par gange i 1920rne, bl.a. ved en officiel dansk koncert i Paris i 1923. Langgaard var ikke til Hans værker er ofte sammensatte og ukonventionelle i deres form og båret af en stræben mod stede her, men det var Carl Nielsen, som også havde et værk på programmet. I Sonate nr. 2 har ekspressive, billedskabende og visionære udtryk. I hans musik findes elementer, der peger frem Langgaard tydeligvis ladet sig inspirere af Nielsens karske tonesprog, som dog integreres i et mod 1960ernes og de følgende årtiers avantgarde, minimalisme og postmodernisme. eksperimenterende værk i én sats og med store kontraster. Sonaten hører, sammen med andre værker fra årene 1920-24 – Symfoni nr. 6, operaen Antikrist og Strygekvartet nr. 3 – til Lang- Rued Langgaards værker for violin og klaver 1907-1950 gaards hovedværker. Den blev udgivet i Berlin i 1922. Langgaards kompositioner for violin og klaver står som fikspunkter i hans produktion, idet alle Der skulle nu gå næsten 25 år, før Langgaard igen bidrog til violinsonate-genren. I mellem fire hovedfaser i hans udvikling er repræsenteret i denne værkrække. En sonate i tre satser med tiden havde han på drastisk vis skiftet spor og var slået ind på en nyromantisk retning i forlæn- titlen Digtning – Rosengaarden in memoriam (1918) ville have været et interessant supplement, gelse af komponister som Schumann, Wagner, Grieg og Niels W. Gade. I 1940 var han, sammen men værket er simpelthen forsvundet og må følgelig undværes i denne samlede indspilning af med sin hustru Constance, flyttet fra København til Ribe for at indtage embedet som organist 14 15 og kantor ved Ribe Domkirke. 1930rne havde været et modløst årti for komponisten, og han var hans onkel, kongelig koncertmester Axel Gade. Opførelsen fandt sted for en lukket kreds i Privat gået i stå med at komponere. I Ribe vendte kreativiteten tilbage, og i 1945 skrev han en ultrakort Kammermusikforening. violinsonate i én sats med lutter gentagelser, et værk, som i de følgende år blev udvidet igen Sonaten blev ikke genopført i Langgaards levetid, men komponisten mistede ikke interes- og igen, indtil det i 1949 fremstod i fem satser som Sonate nr. 3. Det er Langgaard i det ensidigt sen for dette ungdomsværk. I 1945, 30 år efter fuldførelsen, foretog han således en revision af romantiske, nostalgiske hjørne. Men værket blev fulgt op af en stribe nye værker for violin og kompositionen. Han gik stort set uden om sats II og IV, men gennemreviderede sats I og III, uden klaver, inspireret af samspillet med violinisten Håkon Raskmark, der kom til Ribe i 1946 som lærer at satsernes form dog blev ændret. Samtidigt med revisionen blev sonaten posthumt tilegnet ved Ribe Statsseminarium. Langgaard og Raskmark spillede sammen under private former, især Axel Gade, der var død i 1921. romantiske sonater af bl.a. César Franck og Schumann, hvis sene sonater tydeligvis var en in- I forbindelse med revisionen fik sonaten det franske ord “Viole” som tilnavn. Af manuskrip- spirationskilde for Langgaard. I den veritable ’musikalske raptus’, som ramte Langgaard 1947-49, terne fremgår det, at Langgaard har forestillet sig, at solostemmen alternativt kan udføres af skabte han 14 satser for violin og klaver. Satserne blev komponeret enkelt- eller parvis og dels en “viole”, hvormed han mener en bratsch (viola). Men en bratsch hedder ”alto” på fransk, mens anbragt i den nævnte Sonate nr. 3, dels grupperet i Sonate nr. 4 og i Écrasez l’infâme, som begge ”viole” betyder viol, altså renæssanceinstrumentet ’gambe’. Misforståelsen skyldes sandsynligvis er nøgleværker i Langgaards sene produktion. Hertil kommer Kort violinsonate (1949), og i 1950 en ordbogsfejl, idet gængse dansk-franske ordbøger fra Langgaards tid fejlagtigt oversætter fulgte Andante religioso, som blev opført i Ribe samme år. Bortset fra dette stykke blev værkerne ”viole” med ”viola, bratsch”. En anden ting er så, at det slet ikke ligger lige for at udføre værket fra 1940rne ikke opført offentligt i Langgaards levetid. Sonate nr. 3 blev uropført så sent som for bratsch og klaver, selv om Langgaard øjensynlig har ønsket en mørk klang i soloinstrumentet, i 1995, og ved Rued Langgaard Festival 2016 i Ribe kunne man for første gang høre Søndags i hvert fald i første sats, hvor lange passager foreskrives udført på violinens G- og D-streng. sonate fra 1949-50. De to første satser er for violin og klaver, de to sidste for orgel og orkester. Titlen giver således bedst mening, hvis den opfattes som et poetisk tilnavn og som en cadeau Kun Aubade og Sonate nr. 2 blev publiceret i Langgaards tid, de øvrige violinværker indspilles til soloinstrumentet. her efter Rued Langgaard Udgavens kritiske nodemateriale, publiceret 2002-04. De benyttede Værket holder sig inden for sonateformens traditionelle rammer, og tonesproget er tilbage- BVN-numre refererer til Bendt Viinholt Nielsen: ’Rued Langgaards Kompositioner. Annoteret skuende. Violinen sætter i første sats ind med et usædvanligt dybtliggende, kromatisk tema, værkfortegnelse. Rued Langgaard’s Compositions. An Annotated Catalogue of Works. With an som spilles på violinens G-streng, og som udvikler sig opad med mere kromatik for pludseligt English Introduction’, Odense Universitetsforlag (1991). at nå et højdepunkt med hurtige, højtliggende skalabevægelser. Denne kontrast mellem mørk kromatik og lys diatonik er satsens omdrejningspunkt, mens det koralprægede sidetema Violinsonate nr. 1 (1915, rev. 1945) (Più lento) spiller en underordnet rolle (det præsenteres af klaveret, akkompagneret af violinen!). I sommeren 1915 tilbragte Rued Langgaard to en halv måned på Tyringe Badesanatorium i I gennemføringsdelen (Agitato) dukker en reminiscens af sidetemaet op under betegnelsen Skåne. Sonate nr. 1 (e-mol) blev komponeret i løbet af fire dage i midten af juni, og inden måne- Lento glorioso. Et særpræget, langgaardsk træk finder man i scherzosatsens mellemdel, hvor den var omme, forelå det renskrevne partitur. Sonaten blev uropført af Gunna Breuning-Storm et valsemotiv famler sig søgende frem uden at komme ud af stedet. Den langsomme tredjesats og Langgaard i Stockholm den 17. januar 1916. Den frygtede svenske kritiker, komponisten (G-dur) er improvisationspræget og eftertænksom, hvilket svarer meget godt til overskriften Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, skrev i sin anmeldelse i dagbladet Dagens Nyheter, at indtrykket af Lento cogitoso (tankefuld, traurig), om end satsen oprindeligt var betegnet Lento molto e molto værket var noget uklart og ujævnt, men pointerer, at den 22-årige komponist jo har fremtiden amoroso. Den afsluttende, fyrige finale er tonalt mere omskiftelig end de øvrige satser, men for sig. To år senere (den 7. januar 1918) blev værket præsenteret i Danmark af Langgaard og fastholder tonearten e-mol. 16 17 Andante religioso (1950) Langgaard antyder intet om, hvordan den tilforladelige titel Søndagssonate skal forstås i for- Dette er Langgaards sidste værk for violin, komponeret den 6. september 1950. Egentlig hold til værkets usædvanlige form og den kaotiske afslutning. Lynet har hos Langgaard en apo- foreskriver komponisten violin ledsaget af orgel uden pedal, men akkompagnementet har en kalyptisk betydning (Som Lynet er Kristi genkomst er titlen på et af Langgaards orgelstykker), så pianistisk karakter, og stykket har ofte været fremført med klaverledsagelse. Kompositionen blev det ligger lige for at fortolke værket som et undergangsværk, hvor skønhed i romantisk forstand uropført i Ribe Domkirke den 17. december 1950 af Haakon Raskmark og Rued Langgaard (ved afløses af undergang og katastrofe. Men værket har også, som så mange af Langgaards sene orglet) ved en julekoncert, hvor hovednavnet var sangeren Aksel Schiøtz. værker, en ”selvbiografisk” dimension. Slutningen kan opfattes som en protest, en knytnæve i bordet, hvormed komponisten udtrykker sin afmagt og udstiller den absurde situation, han befin- Søndagssonate (1949-50) der sig i som idealistisk ”kulturkomponist” i et samfund, der ikke har brug for hans musik, og hvor Søndagssonate er en af Langgaards mest bizarre og uforudsigelige kompositioner. Værket kulturlivet, efter hans mening, er blevet fattigt og åndløst. er sammensat af tre oprindeligt selvstændige kompositioner, nemlig Søndagssonate (sats © Bendt Viinholt Nielsen, 2018 I og II) for violin og klaver, orgelstykket Marmorkirkepræludium (sats III) samt den såkaldte Lille Storsymfoni nr. 1 for orkester med orgel (sats IV). Sidstnævntes tre dele – et signal, et orgelafsnit og en orkestersats – bar overskrifterne ’Forbandelse’, ’Engle-Avenue’ og ’Lynet sprænger i Natten’. I maj 1950 indså Langgaard, at han kunne skabe en mere effektfuld helhed ved at kombinere de tre værker. Med tilføjelsen af syv takter til sats II og udradering af titlen på sats III og de nævnte overskrifter i sats IV opstod således Søndagssonate med undertitlen Lille Storsymfoni. Langgaard indsendte straks partituret til Danmarks Radio som programforslag. Der blev imidlertid ikke taget notits af det, og det blev anbragt i radioens nodearkiv, hvor det blev lokaliseret så sent som i 1988. Uropførelsen fandt sted under Rued Langgaard Festivalen i 2016 i Ribe Dom- kirke med Gunvor Sihm, Berit Johansen Tange, domorganist Birgitte Ebert og Sønderjyllands Symfoniorkester under ledelse af Thomas Dausgaard. Første sats er en veloplagt, frit formet sonatesats i F-dur af et vist humoristisk tilsnit. Den langsomme andensats (As-dur) transponerer til slut til F-dur, hvorfra orglet tager over (sats III) og giver den etablerede, andagtsfulde stemning en kirkelig dimension. Sats IV indledes med et skæbnemotiv (med tritonus) spillet af messingblæsere og pauker, hvorefter den religiøse stemning fra sats III videreføres af orglet. Pludselig splintres det hele af det fulde orkester (med 8 horn) i 10 vildt gestikulerende takter, som rummer en variant af skæbnemotivet og efterfølges af glissader (betegnet ’som lyn’) i de dybe strygere (!), et D gentaget 8 gange i blæserne (måske en klokkeimitation) og en afsluttende d-mol-akkord. 18 19 Gunvor Sihm er uddannet fra Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium, hvorfra hun debuterede i 2014 under professor Serguei Azizian. Forinden studerede Gunvor to år ved San Francisco Conservatory of Music hos Ian Swensen. Gennem årene har Gunvor vundet flere priser og er blandt andet blevet tildelt den prestigefulde Van Hauens Musikpris i 2011, Harby Fondens Legat i 2015 samt Gladsaxes Musikpris i 2018. Fra 2011-15 var Gunvor ansat blandt 1. violinerne i Copenhagen Phil, indtil hun i juni 2015 vandt stillingen som 2. koncertmester i 2. violingruppen i DR SymfoniOrkestret. Gunvor har været solist med flere af Danmarks symfoniorkestre bl.a. Odense Symfoniorkester, Aarhus Symfoniorkester, Tivoli Copenhagen Phil, DR UnderholdningsOrkesteret samt adskillige gange med Copenhagen Phil. Sammen med Nightingale String Quartet har Gunvor indspillet samtlige strygekvartetter af Rued Langgaard for Dacapo. Serien er blevet modtaget meget positivt over hele verden og er bl.a. valgt som ‘Chamber Choice’ i BBC Music Magazine, ‘Choice’ i Gramophone Magazine og har vundet DR P2 Prisen. Kvartetten blev i 2014 udnævnt til ‘Gramophone Young Artist of the Year’ på bag- grund af Langgaard-udgivelserne og modtog Carl Nielsen og Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Legat i 2017. Gunvor er uddannet i violin og kammermusik af Serguei Azizian og Tim Frederiksen, der begge har tjent som forbilleder. Hun spiller på en Guarnerius anno 1725, venligst udlånt af Augustinus Fonden.

Pianisten Berit Johansen Tange er uddannet fra Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium hos Anne Øland og debuterede fra kammermusikklassen i 2000. Hun har siden 2002 været ansat som akkompagnatør og repetitør samme sted. Hun har optrådt som akkompagnatør, kammermusiker og solist i utallige sammenhænge, også uden for Danmark, bl.a. i Sverige, Finland, Skotland, Frankrig, Singapore og Malaysia. Berit har arbejdet intenst med Rued Lang- gaards musik. Ud over værkerne for violin og klaver gælder det hans soloklaverværker og sange, og hun er fast koncertgiver ved den årlige Rued Langgaard Festival. Hun har udgivet tre cd’er Gunvor Sihm and Berit Johansen Tange med soloklaverværker af Langgaard pa Dacapo, hvoraf den første blev nomineret til årets P2- pris. Berit Johansen Tange er med-redaktør af Rued Langgaard Udgaven: Samlede værker for klaver, udgivet af Edition Wilhelm Hansen (2018).

20 21 Per Salo har siden 1989 været pianist i DR SymfoniOrkestret, hvor han også fungerer som orga- d nist og cembalist. Salo er uddannet i både Danmark, USA og Italien, og er meget aktiv som både Recorded at the Concert Hall, the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen; on 27–28 August 2016 solist og kammermusiker, specielt inden for ny musik. Han har uropført talrige danske værker, (Sunday Sonata – movements I, II and Andante religioso); on 9, 14, 21 January and 16–17 February 2017 (Viole); at Koncertsalen, DR Koncerthuset on 4 November 2016 (orchestral part of the Sunday Sonata – hvoraf mange er skrevet til ham, bl.a. Per Nørgårds Klaverkoncert. movement IV, recording producer: Bernhard Güttler; engineer: Jan Oldrup) and on 17 June 2018 (Sunday Sonata – movements III, IV) DR SymfoniOrkestret har været DR’s musikalske flagskib siden 1925, og i dag er orkestret i Recording producer: Tim Frederiksen international klasse med Fabio Luisi som chefdirigent. Orkestrets Torsdagskoncerter følges hver Engineering: Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir (Mikkel Nymand on 9 January 2017) sæson af 450.000 danskere på radio og tv, mens millioner lytter med, når koncerterne transmit- Edit, mix and mastering: Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir teres internationalt. ℗ & © 2018 Dacapo Records, Copenhagen Liner notes: Bendt Viinholt Nielsen Thomas Søndergård er chefdirigent for Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Tidligere chef- English translation: John Irons dirigent for BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Søndergård er højtagtet både som opera- og Proofreader: Svend Ravnkilde orkesterdirigent. Han har dirigeret i hele Europa, og er i øjeblikket ved at slå igennem i USA, Photo p. 4: © The Royal Danish Library, Department of Maps, Prints and Photographs hvor han står over for at få sin amerikanske operadebut og i sæsonen 2017/18 debuterer foran Photos pp. 13, 20 © Caroline Bittencourt Chicago-symfonikerne. Cover design: Denise Burt, www.elevator-design.dk . Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen, www.ewh.dk This release has been made in cooperation with the Royal Danish Academy of Music The recording was generously supported by the Aage and Johanne Louis-Hansen Fund, the Augustinus Foundation, the Danish Music Publishers Association, the Langgaard Foundation, and the Oticon Foundation

8.226131

Dacapo Records, Denmark’s national record label, was founded in 1986 with the purpose of releasing the best of Danish music past and present. The majority of our recordings are world premieres, and we are dedicated to producing music of the highest international standards.

22 23