Langgaard: Prelude to "Antichrist" - R. Strauss: An Alpine Symphony (Live)

Seattle Symphony, Thomas Dausgaard

Released on 13/09/2019 by Seattle Symphony Media
Main artists: Seattle Symphony Thomas Dausgaard
Genre: Klassiek

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Among the copious discography of Eine Alpensinfonie, one orchestra stands out in particular: the Dresden Staatskapelle, the outfit that first performed the work in 1915 in Berlin. In the studio, Karl Böhm (1957), Rudolf Kempe (1973), Giuseppe Sinopoli (1993), Fabio Luisi (2007), who have all recorded the work with the Dresden Staatskapelle, were the fortunate guardians of the most authentic tradition of the piece, despite the existence of various other versions. Far removed from this hundred-year-old tradition whose orchestral beauty of Strauss, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra took on this challenging 20th Century work in 2017 conducted by their then-musical director, Thomas Dausgaard, whose vision of the piece was fluid and swift. Here, it doesn't soften or slow as it passes through Strauss's grandiose landscapes, but rather we see links with a more modern orchestral school, such as Berg, for example. Thus the Alpensinfonie becomes an abstract symphonic poem. The album's other point of interest, naturally, lies in its connection with a little-known work by Rued Langgaard (1893–1952), the Prelude of Antikrist, the only opera by this totally forgotten but very important Danish composer from the period 1921-1923. The theme of the Antichrist had a particularly important role in the long development of the Alpensinfonie. Since 1899, Strauss had been sketching out a great work for orchestra ("Künstlertragödie") as an homage to the painter Karl Stauffer-Bern (who died at 33), directly inspired by Nietzsche, which was left unfinished until the day Mahler's death (another "artist's tragedy") pushed the writer to throw himself back in, finishing it four years later: it remains his most essential contribution to musical modernity in the realm of pure symphonic music. As for Rued Langgaard's Prelude you will be stunned that such surprising music as this, a million miles from Strauss, should be so little known: you will probably also want to explore it further, with Music of the Spheres, the masterpiece! © Pierre-Yves Lascar/Qobuz

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Langgaard: Prelude to "Antichrist" - R. Strauss: An Alpine Symphony (Live)

Seattle Symphony

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Prelude to Antichrist, BVN 170:1 (Rued Langgaard)

Prelude to "Antichrist", BVN. 170:1 (Live)

00:12:32

Thomas Dausgaard, Conductor - Rued Langgaard, Composer - Seattle Symphony, Orchestra, MainArtist

Eine Alpensinfonie (“An Alpine Symphony”), Op. 64 (Richard Strauss)

An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64, TrV 233: Night (I) [Live]

00:03:09