Langgaard: Antikrist

[DK]

I caught most of a broadcast today on deutschlandfunkkulture.de of the German premiere at the Staatstheater Mainz of a two-act opera titled Antikrist, by the Danish composer Rued Langgaard.  I had not previously heard of either this work or the composer but what I heard intrigued me.  There is a lot of information on this website dedicated to Langgaard:  http://www.langgaard.dk/musik/vaerker/antikriste.htm and there is a DVD available of a production from the Royal Danish Opera.  Any recommendations for further listening would be welcome.
DK

[adriano]

In Mainz it may be sung in a German translation...
This (very original) opera has been recorded in 2002, and issued by DaCapo in 2005.
Among Langgaard's Symphonies one can find masterworks! Conductor Dausgaard (on both recordings) is an expert on this composer.
A curious detail on the English liner notes to this opera CD: the introductory (Proustian) first period takes 100 words - a good excercise for speakers and acting students :-)

[DK]

Yes, the Mainz performance was in German (with a sprinkling of Latin) and the libretto rather strange.  On reading more about this composer it seems that he really was quite forgotten until Dausgaard championed recordings of his works.  I shall be investigating more of Langgaard's music.

[eschiss1]

Really? Wasn't there a complete cycle of the symphonies already on Danacord (conducted by Ilya Stupel) -before- Dausgaard's on DaCapo (and that not counting some pioneering individual recordings on LP and CD over the years before that, as early as the late 1960s- earlier, probably- with recordings of Commissiona conducting Music of the Spheres in 1968 (released 1969), quartets no.2&3 (issued 1972), symphony 4 (issued 1974), and a larger number of recordings in the 1980s including one of Antikrist in 1988, I gather...)

[kolaboy]

I have a 1988 recording of Antikrist on EMI (7496642), paired with the 6th Symphony.

[DK]

I did not know that--I'd only read a couple of articles (granted, focussed on Dausgaard's Antikrist recording) that seemed to imply that Langgaard's music had really sunk into obscurity.  But yes, I see there are recordings of the symphonies conducted by Stupel and other recordings available.  Thanks for pointing them out.