Complete Danish

The life and works of the Danish composer Rued Langgaard (1893-1952) present one of the odder stories in the annals of classical music. He was a child prodigy of enormous talent who grew into a man of breathtaking fecundity. His music was largely ignored by his contemporaries and was left in a state of near-chaos by the composer himself, as he kept returning to his music, revising and recycling it. The music itself varies from the self-indulgently banal at the bottom end of the scale to the blazingly original and powerful at the top.

This set of Haydn’s last and greatest symphonies arrives in the wake of the Danish Chamber Orchestra and Adam Fischer’s acclaimed series of the complete symphonies of Beethoven (8.505251) and Brahms (8.574465–67), and Adam Fischer and his orchestra use their recent experiences in this and other repertoire to play this Haydn series in as exciting and colourful way as possible. This edition is shaping up to become as collectable as all of Fischer’s previous symphonic recordings, and there is now a buzz of excitement around each release in this new Haydn project.

Fresh from their critically acclaimed series of the complete symphonies of Beethoven (8.505251) and Brahms (8.574465-67), the Danish Chamber Orchestra and Adam Fischer turn to Haydn’s late symphonies, beginning with the first three of the twelve ‘London’ symphonies, composed during Haydn’s first visit to the capital. Arguably his greatest achievements in the genre, they include the enduringly popular ‘surprise’ in the slow movement of No. 94. Fischer and his orchestra, who have performed together for over two decades, employ varied bowing and playing styles in the strings and innovative dynamic techniques in the winds that bring new levels of excitement to these masterpieces.

The symphonies of Danish composer Carl Nielsen, deeply rooted in the Danish landscape and culture yet with universal appeal, are among the great works of the symphonic repertoire. Deutsche Grammophon is delighted to include Nielsen's complete symphonies in its catalogue - and to do so with an orchestra closely associated with the composer and a conductor open to new ideas and inspiration. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra has been internationally renowned for its interpretations of Carl Nielsen's music since the composer himself conducted the orchestra in the 1920s and 1930s. Now, under its principal conductor Fabio Luisi, the orchestra has recorded its special interpretation of Nielsen's symphonies for the first time after many years of acclaimed live performances. "The DNSO plays with wonderful commitment and finesse."

Carl Nielsen’s cycle of six symphonies is one of the most original orchestral corpuses of the late Romantic-early Modern era, with its ever-changing tonality, rich orchestration putting emphasis on wind instruments, and constant inventiveness. The Inextinguishable and the Four Temperaments are masterpieces that would be well-worth being performed more often outside Scandinavia.

Following their recordings of the composer’s complete symphonies, the DNSO and Fabio Luisi are now rounding off their Nielsen cycle with an album presenting his Flute, Clarinet and Violin Concertos. Reviewing the symphony recordings, The Guardian warns, “once you get the taste for this music it’s hard to resist”. Find out for yourself by listening now to the opening Praeludium. Largo from the Violin Concerto, with soloist Bomsori.