Danish National Symphony Orchestra
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra (or DNSO) has gained prominence befitting its name, and has spawned the international careers of several important Danish and non-Danish conductors. For many years the group was known as the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra or Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and its origins were in the 1920s, but its history is only partly intertwined with that of radio broadcasting in Denmark.
The DNSO was originally founded in 1925 by a group of musicians led by singer Emil Holm. There were only 11 players in the group, although that soon rose to 30 and to more than 90 by the late '40s. The new orchestra's conductor was Launy Grøndahl. Unusually, he took no formal title, and the orchestra had no principal conductor until Herbert Blomstedt assumed the title in 1967. By 1928, the DNSO was giving weekly concerts, and in 1931, those moved to the Royal Danish Theatre. An impetus to the orchestra's artistic growth was the work of Fritz Busch, who worked with local conductor Nikolai Malko during the late '30s and the World War II years after his exile from Germany. Danish Radio conductor Mögens Wöldike often conducted performances by the symphony and led the group in a number of recordings.
Blomstedt, an American of Swedish background, was just one of the conductors in whose careers the DNSO has played a part. He served as principal conductor from 1967 to 1977, and he gained acclaim for the orchestra with performances of the symphonies of Carl Nielsen. (The orchestra has naturally specialized in Danish music but has by no means restricted itself to that repertory.) Blomstedt has retained the title of honorary conductor and continues to perform with the group. Other major conductor names in the orchestra's history include Leif Segerstam (1988-1995), Thomas Dausgaard (2004-2011), and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (2012-2014). Fabio Luisi became the DNSO's chief conductor in 2017 and continued to hold that position as of the early 2020s. The orchestra has also had a composer-in-residence, Søren Nils Eichberg.
Dausgaard and Luisi raised the orchestra's profile on recordings with a series of releases on the Dacapo and EuroArts labels, many of them devoted to lesser-known Danish composers. These recordings have often been led by guest conductors; in 2018, the orchestra and the Danish National Concert Choir released a recording of the large-scale but little-known cantata Comala by Niels Gade (1846), and this was conducted by Laurence Equilbey. The following year, the orchestra ventured into the growing field of video game music with the album Gaming in Symphony. The Danish National Symphony Orchestra remained active through the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing a pair of albums in 2022: Luisi led a performance of Carl Nielsen's Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5, while Bent Sørensen: The Island in the City was conducted by star Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
© James Manheim /TiVo
Similar artists
-
Music of the Spheres
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Dacapo on 24 Aug 2010
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
The Mandalorian
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by EuroArts Music International on 18 Mar 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Musique orchestrale
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard
Theatre Music - Released by Dacapo on 1 Jan 2006
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gade: Echoes of Ossian & Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6
Christopher Hogwood, Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Aug 2002
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rasmussen: Symphony No. 1 / Saxophone Concerto
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Jeanette Balland, Hannu Lintu
Classical - Released by Dacapo on 1 Apr 2005
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tom and Jerry at MGM (Live)
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Cinema Music - Released by EuroArts Music International on 1 Sep 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 9
Michael Schønwandt, Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Challenge Classics on 13 May 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Who Framed Roger Rabbit Suite (Live)
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Cinema Music - Released by EuroArts Music International on 24 Nov 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Kuhlau: Overtures
Michael Schønwandt, Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Aug 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nielsen: "Aladdin"
Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Guido Paevatalu, Mette Ejsing, Danish National Radio Chamber Choir
Opera - Released by Chandos on 1 Nov 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonies n°1 & 6
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Michael Schønwandt
Symphonic Music - Released by Dacapo on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Music for Alfred Hitchcock
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Klaudia Kidon, John Mauceri, Danish National Choir
Classical - Released by Toccata Classics on 5 Aug 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Da Vinci Code: Chevaliers de Sangreal
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Sarah Hicks, Christine Nonbo Andersen
Cinema Music - Released by EuroArts Music International on 13 Aug 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bent Sørensen: The Island in the City
Trio Con Brio Copenhagen, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Classical - Released by Dacapo on 12 Aug 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn & Ligeti: Concertos & Capriccios
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Collon, Shai Wosner
Concertos - Released by Onyx Classics on 13 May 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Herrmann: Moby Dick - Sinfonietta
Richard Edgar-Wilson, David Wilson-Johnson, Danish National Choir, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Michael Schønwandt
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Chandos on 1 Oct 2011
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Langgaard: Symphony No. 1 & Fra Dybet
Leif Segerstam, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Choir
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Feb 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 14 Oct 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Where the Wild Roses Grow
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Sarah Hicks, Michael Møller, Skov Kira
Cinema Music - Released by EuroArts Music International on 27 Aug 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
He's a Pirate / Davy Jones (From "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest")
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Cinema Music - Released by EuroArts Music International on 11 Nov 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Divas & Diamonds
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Cinema Music - Released by EuroArts Music International on 30 Apr 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo