Børresen, though
born in Copenhagen, had Norwegian blood.
His pupillage was with the Norwegian
Johann Svendsen who was living in the
Danish capital at the time. Børresen
was not a prolific writer and his style
is indebted to the likes of Grieg, Gade,
J.P.E. Hartmann and Lange-Muller rather
than to more revolutionary models.
The three symphonies
and his Tchaikovskian violin concerto
have all been recorded on Dacapo, CPO
and Danacord.
His Den kongelige
gaest starts with a sumptuous Straussian
overture. Sumptuous ... yes but not
as over-upholstered as say Szymanowski’s
early and completely over-the-top Concert
Overture. The atmosphere is light,
flighty, excitable, romantic - nothing
of extreme tragedy is in the air. While
there is some shade of threat to the
proper ordering of things in scene 6
nothing approaches torment or fury.
Anger and worry are in the air but not
spleen or fear.
This emotional range
can be contrasted with the little I
know of Børresen’s other stage
work, Kaddara. Thus Korngold’s
Die Tote Stadt is to The Ring
of Polykrates; as Nielsen’s Saul
and David is to Maskarade so
is Kaddara to Den kongelige
gaest. The full length grand opera
Kaddara is set in Greenland among
its native people. It is a work of high
tragedy and an early voyage to the Danish
recording studios of Dacapo is to be
fervently wished. Lauritz Melchior’s
recording of the magnificent Ujarak's
Farewell from Kaddara bodes
well.
The plot of Den
kongelige gaest is set in the home
of a doctor in Jutland, circa 1900.
The marriage of Dr Arnold Høyer
and Emmy took place two years ago. Things
are now comfortable and settling into
an amiable but not passionate routine.
They are having guests from Copenhagen
but then hear that they are not coming.
A stranger turns up instead. He is welcomed
and turns out to be charming, talkative
and musical. This Royal Guest decides
to bring out the true spirit of everyone
in the house. Everyone dons festival
dress and sit down around the table
to eat. There is flirtatious talk and
the Guest fantasises about the mythological
creatures of love. The Guest steps over
the line in making up to Emmy and is
upbraided by Høyer. The Guest
leaves but not before encouraging the
couple to let joy back into their lives.
Høyer is having nothing of this
and there is a row with his wife. They
make up and admit that the visit has
reopened the wellsprings of their first
ardour. They disappear into the bedroom
while Ane stands in amazement.
The singing and the
plot of this one-acter positively dances
its way out of the overture. The writing
has a sort of delicate exuberance and
an ardent ineluctable flow which more
than once put me in mind of the character
interplay in Act I of Boheme.
There is also a touch of the ecstatic
surrender of a Lehár melody threaded
through the writing from about 0900
forward in Scene 2. The Sibelian voice
of elfin woodwind can be heard at 00.45
in scene 4 and at 02.25 in scene 5;
equally Sibelian, and delicately light-footed
is the string writing at 01.03 in scene
5. Børresen is good at striking
a balance between orchestra and voices
- listen to the start of scene 5. The
epilogue displays a luxuriant ‘fall’
into a silvery silence. Flittering and
glittering, a reminiscence of the romantically
joyous pppp writing and woodwind
dances of the earlier scenes bring the
opera to an end. Those quietly excitable
sleigh-bell noises are of a type with
those at the start and close of Barber’s
Vanessa (superbly done by both
Naxos and Chandos) and in part I of
Rachmaninov’s The Bells.
The Børresen
work is a bejewelled score with an irresistible
onward flow of plot and music. This
is helped here by the gorgeously precise
orchestra - in lively sympathy with
the fragile wonder that is Børresen’s
Den kongelige gaest. It has been
a pleasure to hear the whole score after
having had to make do for years with
a tape of extracts in a Danish Radio
version made in the 1970s by Jens Schrøder
with the Aalborg By-Orkester.
I mentioned Szymanowski
earlier. While the outcome is completely
different the theme of the dangerous
ecstatic stranger is in common with
the Polish composer’s King Roger.
There the outcome and emotional
potency are quite different. However
the effect of the mysterious stranger
on ordered relationships can be seen
there and in a different way in the
work of the Dark Fiddler in Delius’s
A Village Romeo and Juliet.
As you would anticipate
with Dacapo, the whole project is done
with style. There is a very full booklet
with synopsis, notes and libretto in
Danish, English and German. My only
quibble is that the cardboard sleeve
is so tight that at first it is difficult
to extract the booklet and disc.
Fans of late romantic
opera - and even of operetta - wanting
a day out in an unfamiliar place must
hear this. Recommended strongly. A success
in every way.
Rob Barnett
TRACK LISTING
1. Forspil [06:55]
2. 1. scene ‘Skynd dig nu, Ane!’ – Emmy,
Ane, Høyer [08:59]
3. 2. scene ‘Der er nok bud efter dig’
– Emmy, Høyer, Lillepigen, Gæsten
[20:54]
4. 3. scene ‘Hvad skal vi dog gøre?’
– Emmy, Høyer, Ane [05:06]
5. 4. scene ‘Vi er alene!’ – Gæsten,
Ane, Emmy, Høyer [07:12]
6. 5. scene ‘Ser De min kuffert der?’
– Gæsten, Høyer, Emmy [20:07]
7. 6. scene ‘Sluk dog de lys!’ – Høyer,
Emmy, Ane [08:55]
8. Slutning ‘Der kør’ han, den
djævel!’ – Ane [01:12]
BØRRESEN LINKS
Danish Symphonies of the Late Romantic
Period
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2001/Mar01/Danish.htm
Symphonies 2 and 3 - CPO Ole Schmidt
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/march99/borresen.htm
Odense Symphony Orchestra/Tamás Vetö
