Classical Music

With light-hearted ease, Chimaera Trio immerse themselves in a fairytale world of goblins, elves, ghosts and mythical creatures. Reflecting much more than just intimate friendships and family ties, these trios by Mendelssohn, his close friend and esteemed colleague Niels Wilhelm Gade and his brother-in-law Emil Hartmann expand into an almost infinite cosmos of Nordic-romantic myths and legends in which everything is interwoven with everything else.

All works performed from The Niels W. Gade Edition. Recorded in: Danish Radio Concert Hall, Copenhagen 26 February & 1 March 1997 (Symphony No. 4), 6 & 9 April 2001 (Symphony No. 7), 9 & 10 April 2001 (Concert Overture No. 3) Producer(s) Ivar Munk (Symphony No. 4) Preben Iwan (other works) Sound Engineer(s) Jørn Jacobsen

Elverskud (The Elf-King’s Daughter) is a dramatic cantata from 1854, based on Danish medieval ballads. It became one of Niels W. Gade’s greatest successes, not only in his native Denmark, but throughout Europe, where Elverskud was performed several hundred times, often conducted by Gade himself. The work was written in the most fruitful and happy period of Gade’s life. This is reflected in the consummate work, in which, both textually and musically, Gade has struck a fine balance between national and more universal elements. Gade was especially admired in Germany, and on this album Elverskud is not only played on period instruments for the first time, but is also sung for the first time with the German text that brought the work international fame. Perhaps this Danish national work isn’t so Danish after all?

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Both works performed from The Niels W. Gade Edition Recorded in: Danish Radio Concert Hall, Copenhagen 14-19 (Symphony No. 1) and 23 & 24 (Symphony No. 5) November 2001 Producer(s) Chris Hazell Sound Engineer(s) Jørn Jacobsen

Elverskud (The Elf-King's Daughter) is a dramatic cantata from 1854, based on Danish medieval ballads. It became one of Niels W. Gade's greatest successes, not only in his native Denmark but throughout Europe, where Elverskud was performed several hundred times, often conducted by Gade himself. Gade was especially admired in Germany, and on this album, Elverskud is not only played on period instruments for the first time but is also sung for the first time with the German text that brought the work international fame. Here the cantata is put together with Gade's breakthrough as an a capella composer, Funf Gesange from 1846, also in German. Perhaps this danish national composer isn't so danish after all. These works are beautifully performed by soloists Sophie Junker, Ivonne Fuchs, and Johannes Weisser, alongside the Danish National Vocal Ensemble.

In 1840s Leipzig the young Danish composer Niels W. Gade (1817-90) was welcomed with open arms, and became Mendelssohn’s successor with the Gewandhaus Orchestra. There, Gade himself conducted the first performance of his cantata Comala, which travelled as far afield as the USA and Russia. Comala is a lyrical-heroic legend based on James Macpherson’s famous Ossian poems about the warrior Fingal and his beloved Comala, here performed by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra & Choir and an inspired team of international soloists under the renowned French conductor Laurence Equilbey. While the dramatic work was one of Gade’s biggest successes, it has largely been forgotten over the last century. This first collaboration between Equilby and the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and Choir is a perfect revival.

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REVIEW:

Together they deliver a magnificent account of this undeservedly forgotten score. Taken from live performances, there’s also a vibrancy, which turns music that in lesser hands might be ordinary fare, into a highly memorable listening experience.

– Classical Lost and Found (Bob McQuiston)

Classical Music

DANSKE REVY (DEN): 1920-1930, Vol. 1 (Revy 4)

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Mendelssohn' successor as the music director of the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and a close friend of Joachim and the Schumann's, the Danish conductor and composer Niels Wilhelm Gade melded Nordic spirit.

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The last volume of our series of Gade recordings based on the new critical edition of his complete oeuvre, once again includes chamber works with a long and complicated history of composition inasmuch as Gade often submitted his earlier works to later revisions – as was the case with his String Quartet No. 1 and String Quintet op. 8. He composed the latter work between his second and third symphonies and around the same time as the cantata Comala. The results clearly show that he wrote the quintet at a time when he had not yet abandoned the national Romantic ideas of his young years, even though he was already in Leipzig. On the one hand, the quintet is not based on any sort of programmatic or textual background. On the other hand, Gade had not yet assimilated the Classical-Romantic style including the independence from the Classical sonata form that would so clearly be reflected in his last chamber works. His Fantasy Pieces op. 43 and elegant character pieces are all more or less designed in a complex song form – however, with a texture that in almost all cases consists of a leading melody part in the clarinet and an accompaniment in the piano.

"Gade’s chamber music is marvelously written and does not deserve to disappear into the footnotes of musical historiography. The Ensemble MidVest is completely committed to Gade’s cause and performs these works recorded in perfect balance with an open naturalness showing his music in the most favorable light." This is how FonoForum reviewed Vol. 2 of our Gade recordings based on the new historical-critical complete edition of his works. The compositional history of many of these works is long and complicated because he often submitted his earlier works to later revisions. One exception is his String Quartet of 1851, the first complete quartet of his authorship. It is not known why he later distanced himself from this composition inasmuch as it is distinguished by a expressivity stronger than that encountered in his later works. With his one-movement Quintet in F minor he created a work comparable in expression and form to the one-movement dramatic concert overtures with which he had occupied himself ever since his earliest youth.