# SS 21.08.21 - Langgaard #11



## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

A continuation of the Saturday Symphonies Tradition:

Welcome to another weekend of symphonic listening!

For your listening pleasure this weekend:

Rued Langgaard (1893 - 1952)

Symphony No. 11 "Ixion" 

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Post what recording you are going to listen to giving details of Orchestra / Conductor / Chorus / Soloists etc - Enjoy!


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## Mika (Jul 24, 2009)

This weekend we listen Langgaard symphony #11. I got recently Rued complete symphonies box set and this one striked my attention. Symphony is around 6 minutes long, so I assume you will find free slot from your busy weekend schedule .


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

I shall try this version via Spotify


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## cougarjuno (Jul 1, 2012)

Langgard's music is certainly worth exploring. An extreme individualist whose best works are genius.

I'll go with the You Tube recording of Dausgaard and the Danish National Radio Orchestra


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I will watch the You Tube post.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Be careful, this symphony could stick in your head for too long!!! It's quite catchy. I find it like a musical joke, and sometimes like an ode to bombast. The main theme repeats and repeats over and over again with some slight harmonic variations. This short piece never fails to cheer me up.


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

For me also, Ilya Stupel conducting the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra.

I like Rued Langgaard's sound world, and in #11, the never-ending desperation in a romantic, yet very strange way . I almost believe he was being sarcastic to set that against, what sounds to me like, a dance-like background.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

This morning I've given a listen to the Dausgaard recording from the complete Dacapo box - if I'm honest this is a piece I tend to forget/ignore. 
I guess because of its short duration it doesn't fit into my idea of a symphony, it sounds more like an introduction to a ballet or a suite of incidental music - I'm almost awaiting the development of the main theme as the next part of the action.

Thanks for the reminder but I suspect its one I'll continue to gloss over when I take the box from the shelf.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Yes, it's very short! I'll listen to Dausgaard as well and will probably complete the disc with 9 and 10.


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## Haydn man (Jan 25, 2014)

Short, unusual and an interesting idea with the repeating theme. Something of a taster of Langgaard’s music I suspect, which I shall have to take time to explore further.
As a stand alone symphony it seems an oddity with so little to get my teeth into, but a good antidote to a Mahler epic!


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Clever little work, as I assume the theme is representing the ever-turning wheel which Ixion was tied to. Even allowing for the fact that symphonies come in all shapes, sizes and styles this one still seems more like a mini-tone poem to me. The Dausgaard recording on Da Capo for me also.


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I listened to the Dausgaard and makes we wonder why the composer labeled this a symphony. Perhaps a joke on the rest of us? It was an amusing listen at any rate.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

It's amusing, I suppose, and a nice enough tune. But not that amusing, nor particularly clever. Sorry, but it felt a lot lot longer than 6.20 minutes!

Langgaard is really the sort of quirky composer I should like, and yet........ Like certain composers to whom he is often compared (not necessarily style-wise) such as Charles Ives and Havergal Brian, I cannot see the fuss. I have tried, but this is a properly minor composer, and there are several significantly better symphonists even from Denmark - Glass, Hamerik, and the three blatant greats of the Danish Symphony spring to mind immediately.

I'll grant him the benefit of the doubt in that I reckon Music of the Spheres is a very good work. And bravo Thomas Dausgaard for the advocacy

The best thing about this is the cool box the Symphonies set comes in!


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I didn't find much to like in this brief work. Sounds like a piece of nationalistic pomp.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

One thing is sure, it's not about nationalism. 

Recordings and the details heard vary a good deal.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Regardless of what it's supposed to be about, that's the way it sounds to my ears. It's obvious that he knows how to write for an orchestra but the aesthetics of the piece have little appeal to me. If it's meant as musical parody as some here have suggested then I can go with that.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

I gave this one a couple more listens by two different orchestras. The Danish Radio Symphony under Dausgaard sounds very impressive. Will have to explore some of their other recordings. I do have the Norgard No.6/Terrains Vagues which is a favorite.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

starthrower said:


> I gave this one a couple more listens by two different orchestras. The Danish Radio Symphony under Dausgaard sounds very impressive. Will have to explore some of their other recordings. I do have the Norgard No.6/Terrains Vagues which is a favorite.


Agree, that's a fine disc, Terrains Vagues being an impressive, both cinematic and enigmatic work.


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