Antikrist "Fortabelsen" (endelig version), BVN192 (1930)

Music with a high potential to overwhelm

Completely crude and very ingenious, and also highly topical: the forgotten opera by the Danish composer Rued Langgaard is an apocalyptic panorama of human vice. The piece fits perfectly into our time

There is diatonic sonority, high-tonal grace, also fugati and counterpoint, all in the service of orchestral overpowering, lush and indulgent, magnificent walls of strings and brass excesses

A 90-minute spectacle that is one of the most interesting experiences of the season so far

It speaks for Langgaard's music that it is not only able to hold its own against the visually powerful, almost overwhelming scene, but that the opulence of the visual seems to amplify that of the acoustic