MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

Scandinavian Smörgåsbord
Full contents detailed at end of review
MAGDALEN METCD 8017 [78:34]

Experience Classicsonline



After reviewing their discs of music by Sullivan, Humperdinck and Chabrier, I look forward to each of Magdalen’s new releases with some eagerness. They have a knack of finding interesting recordings deserving reissue which have otherwise been ignored. This collection is no exception. The bulk of it comes from a single disc by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Ølvin Fjeldsted, apparently recorded in a single day in 1958. The choice of music, all Scandinavian and all from the nineteenth and very early twentieth century, does not leave the rather obviously beaten track - at least on record; few of these pieces find their way into a non-Scandinavian concert-hall nowadays. It is nonetheless all very enjoyable, idiomatically played, brightly and clearly recorded and not lacking the essential panache in the more ebullient items. My personal favourites are the items by Nielsen and Alfvén, played and recorded with real atmosphere.
 
The other items included add usefully to the scope of the disc. In particular the extracts from Kuhlau’s Elverhøj are worth hearing to suggest that he was a composer of some stature. Having known him previously mainly through his apparently absurd nickname of “the Beethoven of the flute” I now look forward to getting to know more of his music. The Overture included here is particularly imaginative. The three Lumbye items are given rhythmically lively performances, although these recordings show their age more than the rest of the disc. The odd man out, in lacking a Scandinavian conductor, is Grieg’s Late Spring conducted by Barbirolli. It is an affectionate performance of this very lovely piece.
 
There are good notes on the music and performers, and overall this is a thoroughly enjoyable disc. Most of the music here was more familiar on disc in the days of 78s, in which form I remember listening to most of it, but it is delightful to be able to reacquaint myself with it in a less cumbersome form. My only complaint is that the order in which the music is presented might have been adjusted to give more variety. Two Marches at the start and two Galops at the end could easily have been avoided, but this is a minor matter which should not put you off the disc.

John Sheppard 

Contents :
1 Johan HALVORSEN (1864-1935) Entry of the Boyars [4:14]
2 Edvard GRIEG (1843-1907) Norwegian Bridal Procession Op 19/2 (arr. Halvorsen) [3:23]
3 Johan SVENDSEN (1840-1911) Festival Polonaise Op 12 [7:50]
4 Friedrich KUHLAU (1786-1832) Elverhøj Op 100 - Overture [12:22] and Ballet Music [12:17]
5 Ole BULL (1810-1880) Herdgirl’s Sunday (arr. Svendsen) [3:12]
6 Hans Christian LUMBYE (1810-1874) Britta-Polka [2:04]
7 Carl NIELSEN (1865-1931) Little Suite Op 1 - Intermezzo [5:14]
8 Hugo ALFVÉN (1872-1960) Midsummer Vigil Op 19 [12:15]
9 Carl NIELSEN Maskarade - Dance of the Cockerels [4:40
10 Edvard GRIEG Elegiac Melodies - Last Spring [4:26]
11 Hans Christian LUMBYE Champagne Galop [2:01] Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop [3:37]
Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 - Vienna Symphony Orchestra; Ølvin Fjeldsted (conductor); recorded in the Grosser Saal, Musikverein, Vienna on 11 April 1958
No. 4 - Danish State Radio Symphony Orchestra; John Frandsen (conductor); recorded in the Radio Studio, Copenhagen on 28 February & 1 March 1955
Nos. 6, 11 - Copenhagen Symphony Orchestra; Lavard Friisholm (conductor); recordings originally issued in 1961
No. 10 - Halle Orchestra; Sir John Barbirolli (conductor); recorded in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester on 9-10 August 1958

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Error processing SSI file