Before listening to a note of these discs whether to comment
on the music or the recordings and performances one has to acknowledge
the breathtaking
herculean
project of which this is a part. Danish violinist Kai Laursen took it upon himself,
pretty much single-handedly, to create a recorded legacy of Danish Violin Concertos.
This resulted in 5 double-CD sets (
originally
issued in a single Danacord box) covering an unbelievable 26 concertos. As
both a violinist and someone interested in unusual repertoire I pride myself
on knowing a fair amount of music, so being presented with five concertos where
all of the music (
and four of the composers) is completely unknown to
me is quite a humbling experience. It should also be noted that Laursen was not
booked by a recording company to make these discs; he persuaded Danish Radio
to underwrite the venture and the whole project spanned more than a decade. Just
to research and locate the performance material and then learn the often virtuosic
and complex solo parts must have been a massive undertaking for which we are
eternally in his debt. There were compromises that had to be made; the liner
note explains that sessions using Danish Radio and regional orchestras were squeezed
into already tight schedules and as if to underline this, performances were often
made in a single take. So forewarned, let the voyage of discovery begin!
The orchestra used for all of the performances on this pair of discs is the South
Jutland Symphony Orchestra - which Laursen led from 1965 to 1989. The thorniest
issue one has to grasp when listening to these discs, regardless of the age is
the ensemble and intonation. It ranges from adequate to far less than that. Also,
the engineering quality is at times positively murky. I assume the masters used
to create these discs come from Danish Radio themselves. If that is the case
you get some idea of the technical limitations they were working under when you
realise that a May 1970 session was recorded in mono sound. The spirit in which
to approach these recordings is as historical/archival documents. Vital and valuable
though they are it is hard not to assume that any modern recording would not
supersede them.
Laursen is a stylish player of the old school. I enjoy very much indeed the naturally
intuitive way he bends musical phrases and his playing abounds in little portamenti
slides as he shifts position. This is quite different from the ultra-clean style
preferred by the modern generation of players but in understanding hands such
as here I think it quite delightful. But it would be foolish not to acknowledge
that many passages find Laursen technically challenged. These corners might well
have been cleaned up with the benefit of a second take but ultimately I can judge
only on what we have not what might have been. I have no intention of pointlessly
dissecting any work for any perceived shortcomings that would be both ungrateful
and of limited worth. Essentially, there is a tendency for Laursen’s tone
to harden during passages of extended double stopping - allied to some less than
perfect bow control - and also the intonation at speed
in alt to go awry.
To the concertos themselves: the one by August Enna which opens disc 1 is probably
the least distinctive of any of the five offered here. Given very murky 1966
vintage mono sound and rather rough playing it would be easy to dismiss out of
hand. But it has its own modest charm in the same way that the Godard violin
concertos are having something of a renaissance - virtuosically written for the
violin, adequate if not exceptional orchestral writing in a late-romantic style.
However, as the liner-note tersely and accurately puts it: “One cannot
hear any Nordic traits”. The Concerto by Hakon Børresen which completes
disc 1 is a far more significant composition. Its 1904 date makes it exactly
contemporaneous with the Sibelius and comparisons with that mighty work leave
it floundering. The conductor Artur Nikisch took it into his repertoire and that
alone should be recommendation enough. The performance here benefits greatly
from being made in far better sound nine years after the Enna. Laursen’s
tone is caught with much greater richness and warmth - the orchestra/soloist
balance is still far from ideal with much of the orchestral detail lost by being
set so far behind the very upfront soloist. The opening movement
Introduction
- allegro moderato is dramatic and full of demanding passage work for the
soloist but the heart of the work in every sense lies in the central
Adagio.
The song-like simplicity of the writing plays to the strengths of all concerned
and shows Laursen’s ability to weave long lyrical lines with beautiful,
simple intensity. The soloist plays throughout and the movement has a simple
arch shape from quiet opening though high impassioned climax to reflective close.
Again, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that better engineering would
have allowed the soloist to merge more effectively with the orchestral support
but it’s a lovely Svendsen
Romance-like interlude. The finale opens
with a briefly dramatic orchestral passage. Thereafter the writing for both orchestra
and soloist is by turns stormy and skittish although the latter light-hearted
mood ultimately prevails. In what becomes almost a
moto perpetuo for the
soloist there is little rest except for a brief orchestral passage - which sadly
shows up some ropey string playing - and the lead into the final climax stretches
Laursen beyond what he can comfortably achieve. On its own terms this is an enjoyable
and well-crafted work even if it is not a lost masterpiece. (It has also been
recorded by Rebecca Hirsch for Dacapo as part of a brace of Børresen discs
(see
review:
8.224059 (Violin Concerto and Symphony 1 ) and 8.224061 (Symphonies
2
and
3).
The second disc opens with a composer who is already represented in my collection:
Lange-Müller. His two symphonies have been
reviewed on
this site. This concerto is another product of 1904 and bears the Op.69 which
always gets a cheer from British orchestral players. Unfortunately, for this
performance, we are plunged back into the murk of 1966 mono sound although it
is better than that afforded the Enna concerto. The opening
Moderato is
in the lyrical flowing style that suits Laursen best. The first theme is one
of those long sprawling melodies that keep going on as some kind of ‘stream-of-melodic-consciousness’ rather
than being a contained melody
per se. Allied to a perky second subject
the whole movement is very appealing but sounds more like a suite for violin
and orchestra rather than having the ‘rigour’ of true concerto form.
This is because the material seems to repeat rather than develop - but it’s
cheery pleasant stuff so no problem there. The Suite-like analogy continues with
the absence of a central slow movement. Instead we are given an
Allegretto
sostenuto. Again, this has an appealing song-like simplicity which is varied
and elaborated rather than developed. For the first time there is a Nordic tinge
to the proceedings; you could imagine this being the melodic outline of a Grieg
song. There is an abiding innocence that belies the 1904 composition date and
the movement ends simply even abruptly - the song has been sung. The finale is
marked
Allegro giocoso and it is a light-hearted and good-natured dance.
Laursen shoots off the end of an occasional scale and the strings are scrappy
in the way the rest of the discs have warned us they might be. There is more
of a sense of the music being developed than in previous movements but not necessarily
to its benefit. This is the longest movement in the work and it sounds like it
with a rather clumsy coda bolted on to what has come before. Overall, this has
easy and immediate appeal without lingering long in the memory. (see
review of
alternative recording)
The latest work represented here is the concerto by Siegfried Salomon dating
from 1916. The writer of the liner essay notes that it is in the same key as
the famous Bruch Concerto and as with that composer Salomon resolutely turns
a compositional blind eye to any kind of developments post-1880. Given that Salomon
was a working cellist with the Royal Danish Orchestra from 1906 that kind of
musical blinkering is all the more eyebrow raising. But once you get beyond that
and listen to the music it is actually very appealing. You can hear that Salomon
understands string writing in the widely spaced lyrical leaps he gives the solo
line - giving the music that yearning romantic quality so beloved of Bruch and
Elgar to name but two. This is the mono recording from 1970 but the actual orchestral
sound is better caught than for the other mono performances here. Laursen is
in sweeter form too. Stuck in its own little musical time-warp this is the concerto
of the five here that would most likely be worthy of a modern re-make. Certainly
the orchestration is the most assured; neat and avoiding the excessive doubling
that blights other works. The opening of the slow movement features a beautiful
oboe melody that is immediately passed to the soloist who muses on it lovingly.
This is the stand-out movement of these two discs. Suddenly the music is transformed
from the generic and predictable to something on a wholly higher plain. Simple
lucidity is the key - Laursen playing at his considerable best. The closing
Allegro is
neat and effective but I can imagine this being better played - the return to
slower material just before the close seems somehow fitting in this essentially
nostalgic work. At just under 22 minutes it is compact - a CPO coupling it with
the same composer’s Symphony would make an interesting disc for sure.
The discs are completed by Gustav Helsted’s concerto from 1909 - the same
year and key as Elgar’s
Violin Concerto but a fraction of the worth.
This is the most harmonically questing of the five but nothing in the greater
scheme when you think that Schoenberg had dallied with serial composition the
year before in his
String Quartet No.2. But the greater harmonic flux
that this work encompasses gives it a questing ill-at-ease quality that eludes
the other more comfortably tonal concertos here. His music is not as overtly
romantic either - the orchestral part providing less of a lyrical bed for the
soloist. The writing for the violin is angular and awkward sounding. Yet suddenly
in the midst of this thorny music a long-breathed melody suddenly unwinds as
the central
Andante con moto starts without a break; it’s a neat
trick well achieved. Unfortunately, Laursen’s playing is not always up
to the additional filigree work with which Helsted decorates the solo line. What
should sound effortless becomes quite the opposite with intonation and bow control
sorely tested. The finale arrives
attaca again. It has a rather perfunctory
feel as though Helsted is not totally comfortable writing a easy-going vivacious
movement. For sure it ‘works’ but is a relative let-down after two
initially promising movements. This sense is compounded by a dramatic ‘big’ ending
rather arbitrarily tacked onto the end. This is another compact work - give or
take seven seconds the identical length of the Salomon but it feels like a weightier
work. If I prefer the former that is simply because I enjoy that kind of long-limbed
lyrical writing and the bulk of it is better presented here.
I feel rather unappreciative having to give a guarded welcome to these discs.
They are undoubtedly part of a monumental achievement but are far from being
obligatory purchases for any except those curious in all matters violinistic
or Danish. As reference works they have their use but without uncovering any
lost masterpieces and - to my ears - sadly compromised by poor recordings and
by playing that is too uncomfortable for repeated listening.
Nick Barnard
Other volumes
Volume 1 DACOCD 461-462
Claus Schall (1757-1835) Concerto No. 4 for violin and orchestra in D major (1790)
Niels W. Gade (1817-1890) Capriccio for violin and orchestra in A minor (1878)
Launy Grøndahl (1886-1960) Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major,
op. 6 (1917)
Johannes Frederick Frøhlich (1806-1860) Concertino for violin and orchestra
in D major, op. 14 (1826)
Emil Hartmann (1836-1898) Concerto for violin and orchestra in G minor, op. 19
(before 1880)
Henning Wellejus (1919-2002) Concerto for violin and orchestra in A minor (1948,
revised 1968)
Volume 2 DACOCD 463-464
Johan Svendsen (1840-1911) Concerto for violin and orchestra in A major, op.
6
Ludvig Holm (1858-1928) Concerto for violin and orchestra in G major (1916)
Axel Gade (1860-1921) Concerto No. 2 for violin and orchestra in F major, op
10 (1899)
Peder Gram (1881-1956) Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major, op 20 (1919)
Rued Langgaard (1893-1952) Concerto in one movement for violin and orchestra
(1943)
Volume 4 DACOCD 467-468
Niels W. Gade (1817-1890) Concerto for violin and orchestra in D minor, op 56
(1880)
Carl Nielsen (1860-1931) Concerto for violin and orchestra, op 33 (1911)
Otto Malling (1848-1915) Fantasia for violin and orchestra in F major, op 20
(c. 1885)
Axel Gade (1860-1921) Concerto No. 1 for violin and orchestra in D major (1889)
Knudaage Riisager (1897-1974) Concerto for violin and orchestra in A minor, op
54 (1950-51)
Volume 5 DACOCD 469-470
Eyvin Andersen (1914-1968) Concerto for violin and orchestra (1964)
Niels Viggo Bentzon (1919-2000) Concerto No. 2 for violin and orchestra (1961)
Jens Laursen Emborg (1876-1957) Concerto for violin and orchestra, op 48 (1926)
Leif Thybo (1922-2001) Concerto for violin and orchestra (1969)
Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996) Concerto 9 per violino, viola e orchestra, op 39 (1968)
Kai Laursen (violin) 
