There are some old
favourites here but there are also some
little known works that will catch the
eye and ear. Many are rooted in the
Leipzig tradition though some are more
nationalist in outlook but most are
light – in the best sense – and immediately
appealing. The orchestral version of
Sinding’s Rustle of Spring – wasn’t
this as obligatory for pianists as The
Harmonious Blacksmith? – becomes turbulently
romantic in this guise and flows with
effortless ease. I’d forgotten that
Sinding was a Nazi sympathiser. Agathe
Backer-Grøndahl studied with
von Bülow and also with Liszt in
Weimar. She cultivated an interest in
folk music but her compositions for
orchestra were tiny – only two pieces
of which Summer Song was, like the Sinding,
originally written for piano. It’s a
charmer. Svendsen achieved a degree
of celebrity in his lifetime both as
a composer (all violinists played his
Romance) but also as a composer. Grieg
went so far as to reckon him the best
conductor in Europe (which of course
meant the World at the time, but also
meant competing with Nikisch and Mahler
amongst others). The Wedding at Dovre
is a bit foursquare but has a nice lyrical
B section and a good ceremonial cast.
Fine playing from the lower strings
and brass of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.
The Norwegian Artist’s Carnival is a
delightfully bouncy affair written in
1874.
We have Halvorsen’s
famous Entry of the Boyars, written
in a day, and mentioned by Strindberg
in The Dance of Death and Ole Olsen’s
Funeral Music, written for his brother-in-law
but that became the royal funeral music.
Nordraak’s music from Maria Stuart impresses,
especially Purpose, the first of the
two extracts here though he seems reluctant
to let the tune go (understandable as
it’s a good tune, though one we hear
a bit too often). Sigurd Islandsmoen’s
Forest Clearing is a 1902 song, arranged
by the composer for string orchestra
– chaste and cool. The well-known Grieg
pieces are idiomatically played – and
not overplayed with too much vibrato
– and they begin and end this attractive
programme with real charm.
Jonathan Woolf