Louis Glass: Symphony no 6

Day 271

Louis Glass: Symphony no 6

South African Broadcast Corporation Symphony Orchestra

Peter Marchbank

Louis Glass was a Danish composer (1864-1936) who was an almost exact contemporary of Nielsen. I first came across him when the slow movement of his 5th symphony was included on a sampler CD. I thought that it was a beautiful piece of late romantic music with tinges of Bruckner. I purchased the complete work on CD. The rest of that symphony was attractive but perhaps not quite on the same level. That symphony has the unfortunate title “ Svastika’ - nothing to do with the Nazis but a reference to the ancient Vedic symbol.

The 6th symphony has the subtitle Skjoldungeat, which translates as The birth of the Scylidigs, they are the mythical creatures of Danish mythology.  I enjoyed the piece a lot - like the 5th symphony the slow movement is perhaps the highlight, but it is all music of high quality which deserves wider appreciation. The style is unashamedly late romantic but has some tinges of modernism - the influence of Stravinsky can be felt in place though, perhaps surprising, I couldn’t discern any commonality with the music of Nielsen - his symphonies have an astringency that is not present here.