10/03/2010
In he latest issue of the world's leading classical music periodical, Editor-In-Chief James Jolly offers remarkable praise for Dacapo Records' new Music Store in his "Tune Sufing" coloumn devoted to classical music on the Internet.
"A recently launched own-label download site well worth visiting if you're interested in Danish music is Dacapo (dacapo-records.dk). Its website - cleanly designed and easy to navigate - offers downloads not only at 320kbps MP3, but also as 24-bit studio-quality FLAC or WMA files. I've been totally bowled over by the recent set of symphonies by Rued Langgaard (1893-1952), a composer who clung onto a late-Romantic language longer than most but who could explore a more modern style to extraordinary effect. He loathed Carl Nielsen's music, believing he stood for everything that was wrong with modern music - a verdict it's hard to understand."
"My current favourite Langgaard symphony is the Sixth, an intense one-movement work broken up into sections, opening with a double theme and variations. And with a disc of a cappella music by one of Denmark's finest living composers, Poul Ruders, scheduled for release this month, there's quite a variety of treats here, especially if contemporary music is your thing (actually, the Ruders discography on Dacapo is well worth exploring: the disc of his Concerto in Pieces, Violin Concerto No 1 and - admittedly quite tough - Monodrama is worth a sample). There's also some strong competition here in the Baroque repertoire."
James Jolly, Gramophone
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