I seem to have managed to come to this particular party somewhat
late since it is announced as the “fourth and last issue
in the Danish series Scandinavian Classics”. This is a
shame because it has proved to be something of a treasure trove.
Simply put, this double disc set presents expertly managed transcriptions
of LPs from the collection (with one exception) of conductor
- and liner-note writer - Claus Byrith. Clearly this has been
a labour of expert love. Aside from the live performance of
the Nielsen Violin Concerto these are all sourced from studio
recordings made in mono between 1937 and 1953. I have to admit
to being no great lover of ‘historical’ sounding
recordings but these have been very well managed indeed. Yes,
the dynamic and audio range is limited and there are occasional
congested climaxes or surface ‘swishing’ but in
fact I was very pleasantly surprised by how quickly my ear adjusted
to those potential limitations and I was able to focus on the
quality of the music and the music-making.
The chosen repertoire is a fascinating mix of the very rare
and the relatively familiar. In the latter case the interest
lies with the performers and the performing style. The range
of music is wide - the first CD alone encompassing the early
classical symphonies of Johan Helmich Roman to the wonderful
but challenging Nielsen Violin Concerto mentioned above. Here’s
a historical quirk Byrith points out and of which I was blissfully
ignorant until about a month ago. I had no idea of the antagonism
that exists between Sweden and Denmark which goes back centuries.
Bizarrely this impacts on the music Danish orchestras play so
that the two Roman Symphonies performed here represent the only
Swedish music ever recorded by the Danish State Radio Orchestra
and as far as Byrith knows the Royal Orchestra never recorded
any at all. The Roman Symphonies are just about the least interesting
music here. He studied in England and was influenced by Handel
but these works sit as transitional pieces between the baroque
and classical periods. They are in four movements but the total
playing time of each is sub ten minutes. They put me in mind
of the early Mozart Divertimenti K.136-8 (the so-called Salzburg
Symphonies) being melodious and easy on the ear. Performances
are solid - for good and ill. My ears pricked up considerably
with the next work. Edouard Du Puy was Swiss-born and seems
to have lived an eventful life. He settled in Sweden having
performed throughout Europe as a singer and violinist. Playing
for the King’s orchestra but expressing support for Napoleon
was probably not a good idea so he was expelled. By 1800 he
had hopped across the border to Denmark where he had success
both as a composer and with the ladies. Including the Crown
Princess in his conquests was again a questionable career move
so he decamped again - this time to Paris. The removal of the
Swedish King eventually allowed him to return there. The Youth
and Folly overture included here is - apparently - still
in the repertoire. It was written for a singspiel and it’s
a little cracker. After a sombre chord there is a slow songful
introduction led by the oboe which faintly reminded me in its
second phrase of the Last Rose of Summer. Barely two
minutes in any sense of profundity is replaced by a sparkling
Allegro. There’s some excellent neat playing from
the Royal Orchestra violins and the music twinkles and sparkles
with real panache. Just the kind of thing programme planners
looking for a fun curtain-raiser in the Classical style should
consider. Much the same applies to Lumbye’s Dream Pictures.
Byrith calls this “the most recorded orchestral work in
Denmark” which serves to show my ignorance but also explains
the neatness and wit of this performance. It's chock full of
good tunes and nice orchestral effects and reinforces Lumbye’s
title as “the Strauss of the North”.
The ‘meat’ of the first disc is supplied by the
two works by Carl Nielsen and if the rest of this disc is fun
these are great. The recording of Saga-Drøm dates
from 1940 and is conducted by the colourfully named Egisto Tango.
This serves to underline the interpretative significance of
this release too. Tango, Naples-born gave the first performances
of Bartók’s Wooden Prince and Bluebeard’s
Castle. Having settled in Denmark by the late 1920s he became
a great friend of Nielsen and they collaborated on a production
of Maskarade shortly before the composer’s death
in 1931. Tango conducted the music for the composer’s
funeral. All that would seem to indicate a conductor very much
in touch with the composer’s musical world. The age of
this recording does rather draw a veil over much detail but
what is striking is that this is a more forthright, literal
less dream-laden performance than others - Tango takes pretty
much an identical time to say Blomstedt; 9:11 to Blomstedt’s
9:08. Given that I’m used to the more impressionist approach,
I find myself questioning Tango’s approach but clearly
provenance is with him. The Violin Concerto also oozes authority.
How could it be otherwise when featuring the violinist Emil
Telmányi, Nielsen’s son-in-law who premiered the
work in 1911? Given that he went on to perform it over seventy
times in concert there cannot be another player in the
world who can claim such knowledge of the work. Add a conductor
of the stature of Adolf Busch on the stick - in the last year
of his life - and this might just be enough of a reason to purchase
this disc alone. What is most fascinating is that Telmányi
finds an element of Hungarian gypsy passion in this piece which
I must admit had eluded me before. For a live performance of
what is one of the hardest concertos in the literature there
are remarkably few spills and for all the limitations of the
- I imagine - radio-sourced recording, the balance between orchestra
and soloist is perfectly acceptable. Busch proves to be a highly
impressive Nielsen interpreter - it’s a big-boned dramatic
reading matching Telmányi’s red-blooded approach.
He slightly runs out of steam in the final movement and the
very last note is not as rock steady as I imagine he would have
wished it but this remains a very important musical document.
Telmányi did record the work four years earlier with
Egisto Tango but I have not heard that version.
The second disc in the set is more of the same mixing the familiar
with the completely unknown. On the familiar front are Grieg’s
Lyric Suite and Two Elegiac Melodies. The suite
is conducted by Erik Tuxen whom Byrith considers “perhaps
the most versatile-ever conductor in Denmark”. The range
of repertoire he conducted was vast both in age and style and
he is still remembered for introducing Nielsen’s symphonies
to a British audience when he conducted the Fifth Symphony at
the 1950 Edinburgh Festival. This is a very fine version of
the suite by any measure - it also benefits from one of the
later recordings with a perceptible improvement in the fidelity
of the recording. More important than that is Tuxen’s
fluid approach to the pulse of the music. The first and third
movements benefit from a flexible almost improvisatory feel
while the two marches placed second and fourth are allowed plenty
of light and wit. Much the same applies to Tuxen’s rendition
of Svendsen’s Norwegian Artist’s Carnival
although sat close to the Grieg it emerges as a lesser piece.
Peter Erasmus Lange-Müller’s suite of incidental
music to the play-with-music Once upon a Time dates from
1887 which was an instant hit. The play itself has had more
than 500 performances at the Royal Theatre and parts of the
music - not recorded here - remain popular in Denmark to this
day. I imagine it fulfilled its role admirably because it emerges
as a very amiable suite of light music - the gentle barcarolle-like
Evening Music and the following Twilight Music
providing some extra emotional substance at the heart of the
suite.
The remainder of the music on this disc will be unfamiliar to
the majority of non-Scandinavian collectors. August Enna’s
operas are the most successful works to be staged by a ‘home-grown’
composer. The overture to The Little Matchgirl is more
overtly romantic than the previous Lange-Müller although
comfortably conservative for its 1897 composition date. It is
unclear from the liner but it would seem to imply that this
is a 1937 recording and that being so it is remarkably good
both in original balance and current restoration. Hakon Børresen’s
Overture The Royal Guest dates from 1919 and is even
more conservative but it makes its musical points with confidence
and plenty of orchestral theatrical colour - there’s a
twinkling fleetness to the work that instantly appeals. After
those pleasant interludes the disc rounds off with two works
of greater musical weight. Harald Saeverud wrote his Galdreslåtten
in 1942 as a symbol of resistance against the German occupation
of Norway and it remains his best-known work. Extra interest
is added by the fact this is conducted by the great Nicolai
Malko. This is not an easy work to categorise - a kind of angry
march-cum-passacaglia which has a strange central passage where
a light instrumentation chases its own tail before the pounding
back into the opening mood of studied fury. Even more contemporary
- the recording dates from just three years after its composition
- is Knudåge Riisager’s Qarrtsiluni written
in 1938 and recorded in 1941. Byrith commends this performance
for the “guts and the competence” which might sound
like faint praise but in fact it does come over as an interesting
piece. By the nature of its complex scoring one can’t
help but feel that inner detail and accuracy is sacrificed but
it has a percussive, motoric energy and that is immediately
apparent when you sample more modern versions on YouTube and
elsewhere (even allowing for the compromised hi-fidelity of
streamed sources). For all the worthiness of this version it
is one of the few performances on this pair of CDs that I feel
adds little to one’s appreciation of the piece or the
specific recorded version.
A very interesting pair of discs throwing valuable light on
a wide range of repertoire and historical recordings. The English-only
liner note is interesting and sympathetic and reinforces the
impression that this is a series on which has been lavished
considerable care and dedication. I think the Nielsen concerto
is appearing in this version on CD for the first time and admirers
of that composer should consider purchasing for that reason
alone if no other. A fascinating, informative and engaging set.
Nick Barnard
Track Listing
Johan Helmich ROMAN (1694-1758)
Sinfonia No.16 in D major1,2 [7:29]
Sinfonia No.20 in E minor1,2 [8:35]
Edouard DU PAY (1770-1822)
Youth and Folly Overture2,4 (1806) [6:54]
Hans Christian LUMBYE (1810-1874)
Dream Pictures1,5 (1846) [8:08]
Carl NIELSEN (1865-1931)
Saga-Drøm2,6 (1908) [9:03]
Violin Concerto1,9,10 (1911) [33:22]
Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907)
Lyric Suite1,8 (1891/1904) [15:06]
Two Elegiac Melodies2,4 (1880/81) [8:17]
Johan SVENDSEN (1840-1911)
Norwegian Artist's Carnival1,8 (1874) [6:33]
Peter Erasmus LANGE-MÜLLER
(1850-1926)
Incidental Music from "Once upon a Time"2,4 (1887)
[14:33]
August ENNA (1859-1939)
The Little Match-Girl Overture2,4 (1897) [6:36]
Hakon BØRRESEN (1876-1954)
The Royal Guest Overture2,4 (1919) [7:31]
Harald SAEVERUD (1897-1992)
Galdreslåtten1,9 (1942) [8:37]
Knudåge RIISAGER (1897-1974)
Qarrtsiluni2,4 (1938) [8:05]
Performance details
The Danish State Broadcasting Orchestra1; The Royal
Orchestra2; Conductors: Mogens Wöldike3,
Johan Hye-Knudsen4, Launy Grøndahl5,
Egisto Tango6, Fritz Busch7, Erik Tuxen8,
Nicolai Malko9, Emil Telmányi10
(violin)
rec. (no venues given - just years); 1937 (Enna); 1940 (Du Puy
and Saga-Drøm); 1941 (Lange-Müller, Riisager and
Elegiac Melodies); 1949 (Roman); 1950 (Børresen); 1951
(Lumbye, Concerto, Saeverud); 1953 (Lyric suite)
rec. 1937-53