Straight off the back of Paul von Klenau’s Ninth Symphony (Dacapo, 7/16), it’s good to be in the company of a composer of conviction, personality and charm, for all his faults. If you’re a Langgaard detractor you’ll have your reasons. But in these fresh and direct songs, the composer’s voice never fails to ring true.

The booklet contains neither composition dates nor BVN numbers but langgaard.dk tells us that the eight songs with texts by Rittershaus date from 1909 13 and are performed in chronological order here. Schumann is a model but by the time of ‘Das Auge’ (1911) Langgaard was throwing those unprepared modulations and apocalyptic chord sequences into his ultra-Romantic piano accompaniments. We get even more of that in the last of this selection, ‘Mit hellen Augen’ (1913). Wagner’s influence bubbles up in the concise Fünf Lieder (1914), setting texts by Eichendorff and Heine, but again Langgaard’s railing passions always lift him above pale imitation.

Two ‘effects’ in the Danish-Norwegian Vilhelm Krag settings Fem erotiske digte (‘Five Erotic Poems’, 1915) don’t quite come off: the rippling stream of ‘Og atter ser jeg’ and the mandolin in ‘Serenade’. But the latter song draws most character from Jens Krogsgaard, who in these close recordings often sounds too restricted in volume and character, shy of whispering intimacy and sometimes forced at the top of his voice. What sounds like added reverb makes his consonants hiss, a sting in the tail when so many final consonants are placed emphatically. There’s moody, rhapsodic playing from Jan Ole Christiansen but again the close recording renders it thin and tinny. In the piano postscript to ‘Mit hellen Augen’ we hear Krogsgaard clearing his throat and other noises off. Fine music, which deserves more care than this.