The Symphonic Edition Vol. 1
Overture for Erasmus Montanus (Danish Pictures no.1), op.1 (c.1918-20) [10:21]
Klods Hans (Jack the Dullard) (Danish Pictures no.2), op.18 (1929) [9:45]
Symphony no. 1, op.8 (1925) [25:37]
Comoedie (Danish Pictures no.4), op. 21 (1930) [9:46]
Fastelavn (Carnival) (Danish Pictures no.3), op. 20 (1930) [9:21]
Aarhus Symphony Orchestra/Bo Holten
rec. Musikhuset, Aarhus, Denmark, 14-18 September 2010, 21 February 2011 (op.21).
DACAPO 8.226146 [65:00]
The Symphonic Edition Vol. 2
T-DOXC (Poème Mécanique), for orchestra, op.13 (1926) [8:19]
Symphony no.2, op.14 (1927) [14:57]
Concerto for Orchestra op.24 (1931) [16:58]
Primavera - Concert Overture, op.31 (1934) [5:43]
Sinfonia (Symphony no. 3), op.30 (1935) [21:07]
Aarhus Symphony Orchestra/Bo Holten
rec. Musikhuset, Aarhus, Denmark, 20-25 June 2011.
DACAPO 8.226147 [67:03]
Orchestral Works
Slaraffenland (Fool's Paradise) - Suite I, op.33 (1936) [16:32]
Slaraffenland (Fool's Paradise) - Suite II, op. 33 (1940) [14:07]
Tolv med Posten (Twelve by the Post)- Six Dances from the Hans Christian Andersen Ballet, op. 37 (1939) [11:29]
Concertino for trumpet and string orchestra, op.29 (1933) [11:21]
*Darduse - Dances from the Fairytale Play by Johannes V Jensen, op. 32 (1935-36) [19:06]
Håkan Hardenberger (trumpet)
*Ars Nova
Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Dausgaard
rec. Konserthuset, Helsingborg, Sweden, 2-6 June 1997.
DACAPO 6.220584 SACD [65:00]
Dacapo launched their 'Symphonic
Edition' of Knudåge Riisager's works last year with Bo Holten
conducting the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. The same team have just
released a second volume and as their recording includes the Concerto
for Orchestra as well as further overtures, it is now clear that this
is not simply a cycle of Riisager's five symphonies. That being the
case, the 'Orchestral Works' disc released in 2010, featuring the
Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Dausgaard and a brief
but notable guest appearance by Håkan Hardenberger, constitutes
at the very least a preface to the Edition. This disc in fact came
out originally in 1997 as 8.224028, so Dacapo's decision to re-release
it with cover art subsequently imitated by the two 'Symphonic Edition'
discs must surely have some significance.
In fact though, there are two further Dacapo discs, from 2005 and
2008, that certainly belong in an Orchestral Edition, if that
is what this ultimately becomes, not least because the first - Riisager's
'Arctic' ballets Qarrtsiluni and Månerenen (8.226022)
and his 'joke' ballet Benzin (6.220527)
- was recorded by Holten and the Aarhus SO. It will be interesting
to see if any of the works on either of these two albums are re-recorded
for the current series. Either way, the listener can expect further
persuasively idiomatic interpretations.
Uncommonly, Knudåge Riisager (pronounced approximately as a
Brit might say 'c'noothe-or-ga ree-say-awe') had a 'proper job' as
a civil servant, and in that sense was only ever a part-time composer.
On the other hand he was no amateur: his teachers included the likes
of Albert Roussel and Paul Le Flem, he was chairman of the Danish
Composers' Association for 25 years and later became Director of Copenhagen's
Royal Academy of Music - an institution he had never attended as a
student.
Despite these trappings, Riisager was always something of a maverick
in Danish music, showing no interest in following Nielsen, but his
scores, melody-rich, harmonically consonant and lucidly structured,
are by no means unconventional - except in the sense that he applied
the label 'symphony' to non-sonata-form works that in some ways are
little different to suites of concert overtures. In fact, as will
quickly become apparent to anyone following this series, Riisager's
music, though unfailingly colourful, almost always has the feel of
an overture, short tone poem or ballet movement. Neo-Classical Stravinsky's
Pulcinella and Petrushka on the one hand and Malcolm
Arnold's comedy overtures and St Trinian's film scores on the
other, give an idea of the flavour much of it exudes, at least those
featured here. There are rarely any darker or serious episodes, and
virtually no references to jazz or modernism, giving Riisager a very
19th-century 'sound' - 18th century, indeed. A certain counter-balance
is, however, achieved by the extemporised character much of the music
retains.
The symphonies are, in a sense, sui generis, and will not necessarily
appeal to audiences raised on Gade, Nielsen, Langgaard, Hamerik or
Glass. Economisers wanting to hear Riisager at his best cannot go
wrong with the Helsingborg/Dausgaard disc. The two Slaraffenland Suites,
both designated op.33 incidentally, are marvellously effervescent
and varied, whilst Håkan Hardenberger is typically suave in
the short but genial neo-Baroque Trumpet Concertino. Darduse is especially
good, with its tumultuous final dance, preceded by the third 'Dust
Storm' movement in which for once Riisager's writing turns briefly
ominous, as the choir is used to striking, quasi-instrumental effect.
This CD also has the advantage of having been upgraded to 'Super Audio'
- although the regular sound of the latter pair is also praiseworthy.
Whatever the disc, most works are in premiere recordings.
Though the accompanying notes are straight copies in part of the original
Dausgaard disc, they are still Dacapo's usual detailed, informative,
broadly well written efforts. It must be said, however, that annotator
Claus Røllum-Larsen does make claims for Riisager's music that
border at times on the fanciful. To describe, for example, T-DOXC
- an atmospheric portrait of a new Japanese aeroplane - as "quite
in the spirit of the 'machine music' of the period and as such a fine
example of the young composer's international orientation and will
to experiment" paints a misleading picture for anyone expecting a
rival to Mossolov or Antheil.
Byzantion
Contact at artmusicreviews.co.uk
Something of a maverick. His scores are melody-rich, harmonically
consonant and lucidly structured though by no means unconventional.
See also review of Volume 1 by Rob
Barnett
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc from |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc from |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc from |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|