Johan HALVORSEN (1864 – 1935)
Orchestral Works - Volume 2
Suite ancienne Op.31a (1911) [25:25]
Three Norwegian Dances* (1896/1930) [10:39]
Air norvégien Op.7* (1903) [7:48]
Chant de la Veslemöy* (1899) [3:30]
Symphony No.2 ‘Fatum’ (1924) [27:57]
Marianne Torsen (violin*)
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra/Neeme Järvi
rec. Grieghallen, Bergen, Norway, 24 August – 2 September 2009
CHANDOS CHAN 10614 [75:50]
Has there ever been a conductor whose recorded catalogue has included as many
cycles and sets of compositions across as wide a field of repertoire as Neeme
Järvi? And with such palpable success. For sure he has been fortunate
in that the orchestras he has recorded with and the companies making the discs
have always demonstrated the very highest production and performance values.
However the inescapable fact is that Järvi is blessed with the gift of recreating
in the studio an energy and thrill of discovery that eludes all but the very
finest conductors. This new disc – another series mind – Volume 2 of the orchestral
works of Johan Halvorsen - embodies all of the best virtues of the Järvi/Chandos
creative partnership. Yes I know the criticism of a certain brusqueness verging
on the superficial has been levelled at his conducting – perhaps with some
justification in his Bruckner and Mahler - but for the music recorded here
the result is a disc brimful of sparkling energy which presents this music
in its best possible light.
No, Halvorsen is not a major forgotten master but he is a fine craftsman with
a gift for melody. That being said there are a couple of musical highlights
here which touch an emotional nerve with some power. In particular I’m thinking
of the 4th movement of the Suite Ancienne Op.31a [track
4] – Sarabande. Øyvin Dysband in his very informative liner-note makes
the link – verging on respectful tribute – this music makes to the same titled
movement in Grieg’s Holberg Suite but Halvorsen’s writing for a full
orchestra allows for a climax of real power. Fantastically played here by
the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra which throughout the disc is on top form.
With engineering and production in the ‘dream-team’ hands of Brian Pidgeon
and Ralph Couzens I would say this is one of the best-sounding discs I have
heard from Chandos in some time with an ideal balance between detail, power
and ambience. The twenty-five minute Suite Ancienne Op.31a is the rarest
work presented here and also the best. Originally written as a series of entr’actes
for a production of the play The Lying-in Room by the 18th
Century dramatist Ludvig Holberg, it inhabits the musical world of the light
orchestral suite all but lost as a genre today. Halvorsen is a bit of a musical
magpie; the opening Intrata bustles with the same kind of energy and
humour that inhabits the Respighi Ancient Airs and Dances or The
Birds or perhaps more so the Scarlatti/Tomasini Good Humoured Ladies
– although it should be pointed out that Halvorsen uses original melodic material.
Dysband spots an echo of the Prokofiev Classical Symphony which I had
noted before reading the liner. Also, the theme used in the second movement
Air con variazioni and his treatment of it had me thinking of the Dvorák
Symphonic Variations – meltingly beautiful oboe playing here. But please
do not take from the above paragraph a sense that this is a cobbling together
of other composer’s best bits. Rather wonderfully, for all the influences
digested or otherwise, the result is an absolutely charming work – I can see
why Halvorsen counted it as one of his very finest compositions.
Looking at Halvorsen’s compositional dates comes as something of a shock.
The Suite above dates from 1911 and the symphony on this disc from
1924. But trying to fit him onto the great musico/historical time-line does
no-one any great service. This is all music that would sit very comfortably
around 1880 and not sound radical then. Best to enjoy it in its own right
and not worry about the core-conservatism it espouses. The remainder of the
disc comes into direct competition/comparison with performances by the Oslo
Philharmonic under Karsten Andersen – with violinist Terje Tønnesen – released
on the Norsk Kulturråds Klassikerserie label in 1988. Direct comparisons are
fascinating. In the solo works Tønnesen is consistently faster than the Chandos
violinist Marianne Thorsen. Both players, I should stress, are very fine indeed
but my feeling is that Tønnesen’s instinct is right. Halvorsen was a violinist
himself so he knows his way around a fiddle and had played the national dances
of both Sarasate and Wieniawski giving him a practitioner’s understanding
of how to fuse the folk element to the virtuosic. But where I think it works
against him is that the musical mother lode of the Norwegian folk-material
for all its earthy energy doesn’t sit easily with the flamboyance demanded
of the 19th Century virtuoso. So the result is some great ‘original’
material onto which is grafted virtuosic gestures; they lack an organic unity.
Tønnesen’s fractionally more vigorous indeed earthy approach – and rather
rougher style – actually helps distract one’s attention from that inherent
tension in the chosen musical form. These are works that will never make it
into the concert hall any more. Running at just ten and a half minutes the
Three Norwegian Dances simply do not fit into any modern-day programmer’s
frame of reference. Which is why we should be all the more grateful for this
new version. Again, the performance oozes quality – in pure engineering terms
outclassing the earlier Norsk disc by a country mile. If you have any kind
of weakness for virtuoso violin music with a nationalistic slant you will
find much to enjoy here. Of the concertante works the reflective Chant
de la Veslemöy is the most charming – a kind of vocalise for violin and
strings. Thorsen takes a full minute longer than Tønnesen which in a piece
which lasts only 3:30 in the slower version is a huge difference. Thorsen
is – not surprisingly – far more reflective and poetic, Tønnesen’s rather
forthright and literal style which paid dividends in the dances and Air
sounds too plain here and is not helped by the closer miking.
Which leaves the 1924 Symphony No.2 ‘Fatum’. Halvorsen’s idea of fate
here is much the same as Tchaikovsky in his Symphony No.4. Dysband
likens the fate motif to the opening of Mahler’s Symphony No.6 but
this time I cannot agree. Yes there is a similarity to the melodic outline
but I think this is just trying to give it significance by association. Again
differences in timings can tell only part of the story but Järvi shaves over
five minutes off Andersen’s playing time with the first movement alone counting
for three of those minutes. Not having access to a score I’m cautious about
asserting that both performances play exactly the same number of bars or even
notes – this new recording takes advantage of a new critical edition which
– apparently – corrects errors which number in the thousands[!] But that aside
this is Järvi in his musical element – the performance dynamic and thrusting,
full of excitement and verve. In his hands the work is transformed. What under
Andersen sounds earnest and often dull here becomes powerful and compelling.
Not that Järvi is simply fast, he is still able to turn lyrical phrases with
real grace and affection – try the second movement Romance [track 12].
Ultimately, I’m still not convinced this is a great work. Given Halvorsen’s
theatrical background I feel his strength is in the field of the pictorial
and programmatic. Hence, I feel the form of the suite suits him better than
the abstract symphony. Perhaps that was why he needed the idea of ‘fate’ to
hang the concept of a symphony on. However, by running for less than half
an hour in this performance it does not outstay its welcome and there are
many pleasures to be had along the way. Halvorsen’s orchestration is always
well-crafted if never remarkable. Certainly the Bergen players sound as though
they enjoy playing their parts – at the risk of becoming repetitious – the
quality of the playing on this disc is one of its great pleasures. I will
be interested to see if Volume 3 of this series includes the Scenes from
Norwegian Tales which is the filler on the Andersen disc as opposed to
the Suite Ancienne here. That is a gem of a suite full of character
and national colour and a work that would be meat and drink to the team on
this disc.
So a disc of the very highest quality and certainly one which will make me
seek out the Volume 1 I missed and look forward to Volume 3. Musically enjoyable
if not life-changing but another bull’s-eye for the prodigiously comprehensive
Neeme Järvi.
Nick Barnard
see also review by David
J Barker
Musically enjoyable if not life-changing - another bull’s-eye for the prodigiously
comprehensive Neeme Järvi.