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Other volumes: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6][7] [8] [9] [10]

Brief biographical notes on the great Danish tenor Aksel Schiøtz can be found in my review of Vol. 1.

The chronological survey of Danish song, begun with Vol. 5 and continued in Vols. 6 and 8, will conclude with Vol. 10, dedicated entirely to Carl Nielsen. Meanwhile Vol. 9 takes a detour through more ephemeral, though entertaining, material. First we have four extracts from an operetta by Reesen; the sort of agreeable but instantly forgettable operetta stuff that was produced by the yard in the 1930s and 1940s. Schiøtz is in creamy voice and knows the right style. Arne Helman’s notes, as useful as ever, point out that when the operetta was produced, in 1942 under the Nazi occupation, the Danes were good at decoding political messages and well understood that the final song in honour of the King of Spain and the dream of a land of peace and freedom was really about another king and another land entirely.

Only a few items require comment. "Night and Day" is well sung, if hardly in cabaret style. Schiøtz sang it, not as a bid to be recognised as an exponent of the American musical, but for the sheer hell of singing music that the Nazis considered to be "degenerate". Mogens Schrader’s I de lyse nætter sounded like drawing-room music in the piano version in Vol. 7. Here the glutinous orchestra just about puts the tin lid on it. "Denmark’s Freedom Song" was finally performed in Denmark itself on Liberation Day (an incomplete recording of this broadcast is preserved in Vol. 8). Before that Schiøtz recorded it in Sweden; it was smuggled out and played by "BBC sender til Danmark" (many times).

After these "official" light music recordings by Schiøtz we have documentation of his first visits to the recording studios. In 1933 he got a couple of solos in the medley "Film-cuttings" and can also be heard in the ensemble. The bandleader Erik Tuxen is that very same who became conductor of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and made some important Nielsen recordings. Then in 1934, with his name spelt wrong and described as a baritone, Schiøtz had a small part in Christensen’s Jazz-oratorio The 24 Hours and two years later was in the male trio (without a solo part) in the same composer’s The School Upside Down. The ubiquitous Mogens Wöldike has some fun here. Incidentally, among the Five Syncopes and the Three Rhythm Girls was Grete Kordt who had graduated to pianist by 1936 and who played for a number of Schiøtz’s later recordings.

In conclusion, following the practice of many of Schiøtz’s contemporary singers, including his Swedish colleague Jussi Björling, of recording light music under a pseudonym, we have six sides which he cut as "The Masked Tenor". He makes no attempt to mask his voice, so the unmasking must have come pretty quickly. Fun to hear once, particularly Ankerstjerne’s outrageous references to Dvořák’s “Songs my Mother Taught Me”.

This volume contains none of the recordings which will guarantee Schiøtz a place in history. If, like me, you have been following this series and have developed a fondness for Schiøtz, I think you will enjoy this glimpse of his lighter side and his first recordings. It is certainly a sobering reflection that, although the series says "Complete Recordings 1933-1946", the real solo recordings before an international public began in 1938, were limited to Denmark and mainly Danish music from 1940-1945, and began again in 1945 only to be truncated the following year by the operation which practically ended his career. Yet in just three years of international career Schiøtz came to be considered one of the greatest lieder singers, and his recorded legacy, though small, is enough to justify this reputation.

Christopher Howell

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