Asger Hamerik - Symphonies (Thomas Dausgaard)

Information

Composer: Asger Hamerik

CD1:

• (01) Symphony No. 1 in F major, Op. 29, "Poetique"
• (05) Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 32, "Tragique"

CD2:

• (01) Symphony No. 3 in E major, Op. 33, "Lyrique"
• (05) Symphony No. 4 in C major, Op. 35, "Majestueuse"

CD3:

• (01) Symphony No. 5 in G minor, Op. 36 "Serieuse"
• (05) Symphony No. 6 in G major, Op. 38 "Spirituelle"

CD4:

• (01) Symphony No. 7, Op. 40, "Choral"
• (04) Requiem, Op. 34

Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra (CD 1-3)
Randi Stene, mezzo-soprano (CD4)
Danish National Concert Choir (CD4)
Danish National Symphony Orchestra (CD4)
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor

Date: 2009
Label: Dacapo
https://www.dacapo-records.dk/en/recordings/hamerik-the-symphonies

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Review

The complete symphonic output of a long-forgotten Danish master

There was a time when Asger Hamerik (born Hammerich in 1843) was the best-known Danish composer after Gade. For 27 years director of Baltimore’s Peabody Institute, Hamerik had been a pupil of von Bülow and Berlioz, occasionally deputising on the podium for the latter in his declining years. The Requiem (1886-87) confirms Berlioz’s influence, whether in the conflation of the “Requiem aeternam” and “Kyrie eleison” or use of the “Dies irae”plainchant in the movement of the same name. A rather fine piece, derivative perhaps, it occupies expressive ground between the light of Fauré and the drama of Verdi.

Hamerik was an experienced composer of operas and orchestral works when he came to write his First Symphony (see Knud Ketting’s notes for the curiosities over its completion date). Attractive but structurally naive in places, a lesson not learnt in its successor, the still conservative Third (1883-84) is more imaginative in this respect though there seems little difference expressively between the First’s Poétique and Third’s Lyrique; the Second (1882-83) is more dramatique than Tragique. With No 4 (1888-89), dedicated to King Christian IX of Denmark, his style deepened into the “grand manner” that Havergal Brian noted in Musical Opinion in 1936 (reprinted in Brian on Music, Vol 2 – see page 102). It is not hard to see why this was his most popular symphony in Denmark.

Titling his Fifth (1889-91) Symphonie sérieuse brings inevitable comparisons with Berwald, not to Hamerik’s benefit. The Sixth for strings alone, however, is an unqualified masterpiece, exalted and dignified in tone, a delight to play and listen to – no wonder Boyd Neel recorded it with his orchestra in 1946. The luminous Choral Seventh (1906) dates from after his return to Denmark setting a text he and his wife created on “Life, Death and Immortality” and proves a fitting culmination to the cycle. Dausgaard conducts with all the verve we expect from him, relishing the combination of late-Romantic lyricism and Berliozian instrumental dash. Hamerik may not have been ultimately of the front rank and was in time eclipsed by Nielsen and Holmboe, but his art was a fine addition to European culture. Top-notch sound from Dacapo makes this a highly enjoyable set.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2009/Nov09/Hamerik_Symphonies_6200002.htm
https://www.amazon.com/Asger-Hamerik-Symphonies-Requiem/dp/B002QEXBQS

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Asger Hamerik (Hammerich) (April 8, 1843 – July 13, 1923), was a Danish composer of classical music. Hamerik studied music with J.P.E. Hartmann and Niels Gade in Denmark, then with Hans von Bülow in Berlin and Hector Berlioz in Paris. In 1871 he was offered the post of director of the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, a position he held until 1898. Hamerik composed 41 opus numbers, including 7 symphonies, chamber music, 4 operas, 5 orchestral suites and popular orchestral music, much of it based on Scandinavian folk tunes. During his lifetime he was considered the best-known Danish composer after Gade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asger_Hamerik

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Thomas Dausgaard (born 4 July 1963 in Copenhagen) is a Danish conductor. Dausgaard has been Principal Conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra since 1997, and chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra since 2016. He was also Principal Conductor of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra from 2004 to 2011, and will become music director of the Seattle Symphony in 2019-2020 season. Dausgaard has recorded several recordings of Danish and other Scandinavian music for Chandos and Dacapo labels, including works by Per Nørgård, Rued Langgaard and Franz Berwald.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Dausgaard

http://thomasdausgaard.com/

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