Langgaard: Music of the Spheres

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

Music of the Spheres (1916-18) is probably Langgaard's most important – certainly most original – work. So radical did its sonic experiments seem even in the late 1960s that Ligeti no less, when... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: CHAN9517
Label: Chandos
Length: 53 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Chandos - Downloads at MP3 Prices

Special offer ends: 22/05/2024

Langgaard, R: Music of the Spheres, for soprano, chorus, orchestra and distant orchestra, BVN 128

Work length35:30

$15.75

$19.50

Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gitta-Maria Sjöberg, Hedwig Rummel, Annette Simonsen, Danish National Radio Choir, Jesper Grove Jorgensen

I. Like sunbeams on a coffin decorated with sweet smelling flowers

Track length2:32

$1.05

$1.30

II. Like the twinkling of stars in the blue sky at sunset

Track length2:33

$1.05

$1.30

III. Like light and the depths

Track length2:07

$1.05

$1.30

IV. Like the refraction of sunbeams in the waves

Track length0:36

$1.05

$1.30

V. Like the twinkling of a pearl of dew in the sun on

Track length0:52

$1.05

$1.30

VI. Longing - Despair - Ecstasy

Track length3:33

$1.05

$1.30

VII. Soul of the world - Abyss - All Soul's day

Track length2:16

$1.05

$1.30

VIII. I wish...!

Track length1:20

$1.05

$1.30

IX. Chaos - Ruin - Far and near

Track length2:07

$1.05

$1.30

X. Flowers wither

Track length1:36

$1.05

$1.30

XI. Glimpse of the sum through tears

Track length5:16

$1.05

$1.30

XII. Bells pealing. Look! He comes

Track length1:57

$1.05

$1.30

XIII. The gospel of flowers - From the far distance

Track length2:26

$1.05

$1.30

XIV. The new day

Track length1:33

$1.05

$1.30

XV. The end. Antichrist - Christ

Track length4:46

$1.05

$1.30

Langgaard, R: Four Tone Pictures

Work length17:42

$4.20

$5.20

Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gitta-Maria Sjöberg

I. Likewords for a summer's day saga

Track length4:29

$1.05

$1.30

II. A scent of mull and mud

Track length3:36

$1.05

$1.30

III. A golden flake hovers above

Track length4:41

$1.05

$1.30

IV. The flowering summer was linked to the harvest

Track length4:56

$1.05

$1.30

Reviews
Explore

Reviews

2010

Music of the Spheres (1916-18) is probably Langgaard's most important – certainly most original – work. So radical did its sonic experiments seem even in the late 1960s that Ligeti no less, when inspecting the score, quipped that he had merely been a 'Langgaard imitator' all along. The manipulation of blocks of sound rather than conventional thematic development does have much in common with trends in post-Second World War avant-garde composition (though stemming from impressionism), but other contemporaries of Langgaard's, such as Schoenberg and Scriabin, had traversed similar terrain at least in part. The main difference between Langgaard and Ligeti lies in the former's reliance on a fundamentally tonal language, however eccentrically deployed, and Music of the Spheres seems in hindsight to be a bridge between two other highly virtuosic scores with celestial connotations: Holst's The Planets and Ligeti's Atmosphères. The Tone Pictures (1917) were written alongside this extraordinary work, yet possess none of its stature: four charming songs, they seem effusive and outmoded by comparison. Chandos's sound is superb.

2011 edition

This is perhaps the best introduction to Langgaard's music...Rozhdestvensky with his excellent Danish orchestra captures the spirit of the music admirably, and the Chandos recording is richly atmospheric.

Offer,Langgaard: Music of the Spheres

CD

Downloads

Contents

Download queue