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Donald Macleod's charts Niels Gade's early life, leading up to his breakthrough work, "Echoes of Ossian".

Taken under his wing by Felix Mendelssohn, in his lifetime the Danish composer Niels Gade was a celebrated figure, who performed to great acclaim in Great Britain and across Europe. In his birthland Denmark, his association with Copenhagen's Music Society and his founding directorship of the Conservatory gave him a voice of influence within musical circles. He remains part of the Danish national consciousness, through the Wedding March from his ballet "Et folkesagn". It's one of the most popular picks for weddings. However, since his death, at the age of 73 in 1890, performances of his music have become all too infrequent leaving most of his considerable legacy largely unheard.

The 200th anniversary of Gade's birth provides a good reason to rediscover his music. Weddings aside, Niels Gade is the composer of no less than eight symphonies; a concerto for his own instrument, the violin; a rich variety of choral settings and solo songs; a host of chamber music, including a piano trio, and no less than five string quartets; piano music and a whole series of large-scale works which we might want to categorise as choral cantatas but which he called "concert pieces".

There is little published information about Niels Gade available in English. Donald Macleod is joined by Dr. Colin Roth, a co-director of the Nordic Research Centre at the University of Sheffield. Across the week, Colin shares his own research into Gade's music and information garnered from the most detailed biography of the composer, which was published in Denmark in 2002 by Danish musicologist Inger Sørensen.

Today, Donald Macleod explores the years up to Gade's breakthrough as a composer. Born in 1817, Gade's childhood was marked by the economic hardship endured in Copenhagen after the country declared bankruptcy in 1813. Despite the disadvantages of a lack of money and a limited access to education, aged 23, Gade won a prestigious competition with an astonishingly accomplished orchestral overture, "Echoes of Ossian".

Wedding Waltz (Et Folkesagn)
The Danish Radio Sinfonietta
Harry Damgaard, conductor

Elverskud, Op.30 (Prologue & Part 1)
Kirsten Dolberg, contralto, the mother
Tivoli Concert Choir
Tivoli Symphony Orchestra
Michael Schønwandt, conductor

Acquarellen, Op.19, Vol 1
Christina Bjørkøe, piano

Hymnus
Danish National Radio Choir
Jesper Grove Jørgensen, conductor

Overture: "Echoes of Ossian", Op.1
The Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Dmitri Kitajenko, conductor.