Ludvig IRGENS-JENSEN (1894-1969)
Symphony in D minor (original version) (1942) [44:00]
Air (1959) [2:42]
Passacaglia (1928) [20:05]
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Bjarte Engeset
rec. The Lighthouse, Poole, Dorset, England, 22-23 May 2009
NAXOS 8.572312 [66:47]
This fine disc embodies the fickle nature of musical fame and fate. This is
music of depth yet instant appeal. For any collector who responds to large-scale
orchestral scores written in a freely tonal manner this is powerfully compelling
listening. The liner tells us that the two main works received many performances
following their respective premieres as well as being praised by such musical
luminaries as Toscanini and Stravinsky. That said, I cannot imagine there
are many collectors reading this review outside of Norway who can claim much
if any real knowledge of Irgens-Jensen's work. I for one am certain that I
have not heard a note before this disc. So congratulations and praise to Naxos
for another winner of a disc.
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra prove themselves yet again to be astonishingly
versatile playing music which by definition must be unfamiliar with real conviction
and abundant virtuosic skill. No doubt in this they are helped greatly by
the fact that the conductor Bjarte Engeset is an expert on this composer's
music - this is evident from the fact that this world premiere recording of
the Symphony in D minor is in the performing edition prepared by Engeset.
Engineer Phil Rowlands has managed to tame the resonance of the recording
venue - The Lighthouse, Poole - which in the past I have found clouds some
of the detail of the BSO recordings there. This disc strikes a fine balance
between detail and warmth. The orchestral sound-field is convincingly spread
left to right with good depth too.
For a symphony written in 1942 Irgens-Jensen deploys a very traditional orchestra
- little in his use of the orchestra (instrumentally rather than harmonically)
- would surprise Brahms. Indeed, as Engeset points out in his very interesting
liner, it was to Germanic rather than Nordic models that the composer turned.
Throughout the disc it is abstract musical forms such as the chorale, passacaglia
or fugue that are explored. Yet the fascination to my ear is the subtle fusion
of something unmistakeably 'northern' in the use of harmony and clarity of
orchestration that results in works of considerable beauty. Stenhammar's Symphony
No.2 springs to mind as sharing a similar sound-world. Although conceived
in a three movement version it became best known after the war in a two movement
form with the finale removed and the end of the second movement rewritten.
Engeset's achievement is to have edited the amputated finale and restored
it to its rightful position. Frustratingly for him he did not discover the
original ending to the second movement in time for this recording so unfortunately
- how ungrateful I am for writing this - what we have recorded is a rather
unauthentic version since it represents neither Irgens-Jensen’s first
nor indeed his final thoughts. Engeset believes the original finale
was excised because its musical message was simply too pessimistic for a post-war
audience determined to move forward leaving the dark days of the war behind.
Given that the work was conceived during the Nazi occupation of Norway with
the enormous impact that had on Norwegian society perhaps it would be foolish
to expect it to be anything but bleak.
Engeset finds parallels with other famous symphonies in D minor ranging from
Bruckner to Beethoven and Mahler - he hears Symphony No.3 but - wrong key
I know - No.6's apocalyptic final march sprang to my mind. I know what he
means and I am sure other listeners might add their own 'echoes' - fleetingly
I heard some Shostakovich (in the weary tread of the finale's opening) and
Vaughan Williams (the central movement echoes Vaughan-Williams' own 'war'
symphony No.5 with its gently pastoral ecstasy) but this is a game of rapidly
diminishing returns. Listen to this work in its own considerable right and
I feel you do begin to get a sense of the man behind the music. Apparently
he was quite a polymath - a poet and considerable artist; what I take most
from this is an intensely humanitarian philosophy couched in essentially abstract
musical form. Engeset quotes a poem written by the composer at the same time
as the symphony the implication being that it contains a programme for the
musical work. Again I think this is a potential red-herring, at best reflecting
a common mood rather a detailed narrative. The heart of the work surely lies
in the repeated use of chorale-like passacaglia figures under-pinning the
busier musical detail that swirls around and above it. I hear this as the
human spirit that endures despite any given circumstance as if the rigour
of working out these 'traditional' musical forms transcends the preceding
struggle. Certainly the climax of the second movement has a sense of Hindemith's
Mathis der Maler in its final triumphal moments. The very opening of
the work gives you an idea of the contradictory forces at work throughout
the piece - an open-air nature poem in the high modal string writing with
ominous threatening figures from low wind and brass presaging darker times
ahead. Indeed throughout this first movement - the longest of the three -
there is a storm-tossed energy that is compellingly sustained and played here
with bravura virtuosity. What I admire greatly in this music is the heartfelt
individual sincerity of it. The influences are there for one to tick off a
list as you see fit and certainly in purely musical terms this is not going
to break any new boundaries. Yet at the same time this is not in the slightest
bit derivative or superficial.
Separating the two substantial works on the disc is a little two minute miniature
from 1959 entitled Air. This is an orchestral transcription of one
of the songs from the song-cycle of 1920, Japanese Spring. Air is a
version of the fourth song dedicated to 'a friend'. As a contrast to the muscular
emotions of the two large works it gives the listener a valuable insight into
the range of Irgens-Jensen's expression. The 1928 Passacaglia is an
altogether more bravura and ultimately more optimistic work. This is yet another
piece that came into being as a result of the Columbia record company's competition
to mark the centenary of Schubert's death. It came second in the Nordic section
to the ultimate winner of the whole competition - Atterberg's Symphony
No.6. Again the opening feels ill at ease and questing - the introduction
of the passacaglia motif in the trombones - Brahmsian echoes here - seems
to promise something more beneficent although initially this simply has the
effect of increasing the vigour of the opening pessimistic music. It is only
once the lower strings convert the passacaglia material into a moving bass
figure that the clouds part and piece hauls itself slowly into sunnier climes.
Once again I get a similar impression to that in the symphony; as though the
composer finds release and valediction through 'hard work' as represented
by the rigorous working out of traditional musical forms. The triple fugue
that bursts out after the twelfth variation [track 5 11:30] symbolises this
exactly. Again the orchestration is far from revolutionary by any measuring
stick - it is hard to imagine the composer ever being considered a 'modernist'
but again I am struck how unlike other composers he sounds. Perhaps here I
heard moments reminiscent of Reger but I suspect this was more to do with
a common fascination in the use of variation and fugue. Irgens-Jensen's music
is flecked with an unmistakeable Nordic tone and a greater range of humanity
than I hear in Reger. The closing pages of this work capture this perfectly;
the fugue builds to a majestic final chorale statement of the passacaglia
theme. This then dissolves into a pastoral paradise - all passion spent -
where harp and solo violin perform a courtly dance leaving the work to finish
with surprising abruptness on an unresolved dominant chord. Irgens-Jensen
did much the same at the end of the reconstructed finale of the symphony and
in both instances there is a sense of unfinished business with the listener
left hanging in a strange emotional limbo.
The discovery of many little known Scandinavian composers has been one of
my collecting highlights in recent years mainly down to the endeavours of
the BIS and CPO labels but this disc from Naxos proves to be another major
discovery on that pleasurable voyage. Quite how much other music there is
to record is unclear although his cantata/dramatic symphony (depending where
you source your information!) Homecoming would seem an obvious starting
place given its stature in Norway. I see there is a major biography due to
be published in November 2011 by Boydell & Brewer. An excellent disc that
reflects great credit on all concerned.
Nick Barnard
Congratulations and praise to Naxos for another winner of a disc.