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Evidently, this very abrupt change of style was Langgaard's response to the indifference of the Danish critics and public to his earlier, more personal, unashamedly neo-romantic manner. Only in one short movement (all these two symphonies' eight movements are very short), the molto elegiaco of No 8, is there something remarkable. The choral writing and subject [listen -- track 14, 0:25-1:25] -- an ecstatic rhapsody on old Copenhagen's skyline -- prefigure what is probably Langgard's greatest achievement, his oratorio The End of Time, which dates from 1940 (Chandos 9786. Rozhdestvensky; Danish National Radio Orchestra and Choir).

The performances on this disc are excellent. The sleeve notes earnestly debate whether it was appropriate for a twentieth century composer to write in these ways, as if there were a problem inherent in the very nature of neo-romanticism (or classicism). There isn't. The question is only whether or not Langgaard convinces. The Sixth Symphony does.

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