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
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Bach to the Future
Safri Duo, Thomas Dausgaard, Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Chandos on 1/04/1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
WORKS FOR CHORUS & ORCHESTRA
Danish National Choir, Anna Larsson, Stig Fogh Andersen, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Gerd Albrecht
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Chandos on 1/06/2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Der Wind bläset wo er will
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Johannes Moser, Otto Tausk
Classical - Released by Dacapo on 4/12/2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonies (Volume 2)
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on 1/04/2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem)
Gerd Albrecht, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Inger Dam-Jensen, Bo Skovhus, Danish National Symphony Choir
Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released by Chandos on 1/05/2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nielsen: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 9/12/2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nørgård: Symphony No. 3 & Piano Concerto
Leif Segerstam, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Per Salo, Danish National Symphony Choir
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1/04/1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gade: Comala
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Dacapo on 16/02/2018
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
What Could Have Been (from “Arcane: League of Legends”) (Live)
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Christian Schumann, Danish National Concert Choir, Bjørn Fjæstad, Soo-Yin Hong
Classical - Released by EuroArts Music International on 20/10/2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonies n°1 et n°2
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Christoph Poppen
Classical - Released by Dacapo on 25/03/2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Raiders of the Symphony
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Christian Schumann
Classical - To be released on 7/06/2024 by EuroArts Music International
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Valhalla Suite (Live)
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Cinema Music - Released by EuroArts Music International on 10/11/2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Hvis Ikke Nu, Så Hvornår?
Lis Sørensen, Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Christmas Music - Released by Sony Music Entertainment on 21/11/2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orkestret (Original musik fra TV-serien)
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by DR Symfoniorkestret on 1/07/2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gubaidulina: Alleluia - Gorecki: Miserere
Dmitri Kitajenko, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Radio Choir, Copenhagen Boys' Choir, Jesper Grove Jorgensen
Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released by Chandos on 1/05/1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Borup-Jørgensen: Marin
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by OUR Recordings on 3/11/2017
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Symphonie N° 4 & 5
Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Michael Schønwandt
Classical - Released by Dacapo on 11/05/2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Songs By The Sea - A Scandinavian Journey
Bo Skovhus, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Michael Schønwandt
Art Songs, Mélodies & Lieder - Released by Chandos on 1/09/2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Workout - Powerful Film Music for Running
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by EuroArts Music International on 26/04/2024
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
War & Craft: Music from The Powerful Empires
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by EuroArts Music International on 26/04/2024
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Norgard: Symphony No. 6 & Terrains Vagues
Thomas Dausgaard, Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1/06/2002
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo