Eyvind ALNÆS (1872-1932)
Four songs to texts by Nils-Magnus Folcke, Op.34 [9.37]
Four songs to texts by Gustav Fröding and Nils-Magnus Folcke, Op.35: Nos 1
and 2 [6.04]
Three poems by Nils Collett Vogt, Op.29: Nos 1 and 2 [4.27]
Five songs to texts by Robert Burns and Heinrich Heine, Op.6 [11.07]
Three songs to poems by Viggo Stuckenberg, Op.26 [7.30]
Four poems by Herman Wildenway, Op.30: Nos 1 and 4 [8.01]
Six songs to texts by Anders Hoven and A O Vinje, Op.22 [10.51]
Three songs for a middle voice to texts by Nils Collett Vogt, Op.23: No 2
[1.07]
Four songs to texts by Oscar Stjerne and Nils-Magnus Folcke, Op.41: Nos 3
and 4 [2.00]
Ann-Beth Solvang (mezzo), Erling Ragnar Eriksen (piano)
rec. Lille Concert Hall, Bjergsted, Stavanger, 22-24 June 2009
TOCCATA CLASSICS TOCC 0124 [63.46]
The first generally available recordings of the music of Eyvind Alnæs came
with Kirsten Flagstad’s performances of four of his songs with orchestra.
These were made during her Indian summer in the studio with Decca
during the 1950s. It is only recently that we have been given the opportunity
to hear more of his works, including a splendidly full-blooded Piano Concerto
recorded by Piers Lane for Hyperion
as part of their series of ‘romantic piano concertos’. The two symphonies
which I have not heard were given a warm welcome by Rob Barnett in his review
for this site. However an earlier recording of Alnæs songs by Bodil Arnesen
and Erling Ragnar Eriksen (again) appears to have succumbed to the deletions
axe, so this disc (which duplicates some of the items on that issue) is currently
the only CD to offer a conspectus of Alnæs’s songs. Unlike that previous release,
this issue contains some complete sets of songs rather than individual items
selected from them including many first recordings.
Not that Alnæs’ complete sets of songs seem to have much internal unity, as
is witnessed by the somewhat unlikely pairing of Robert Burns and Heinrich
Heine in the Op.6 volume – they seem to have been more a matter of convenience
for the purposes of publication. They do however confirm Alnæs as one of the
more prominent successors of Grieg in the field of Norwegian music, who has
been unfairly neglected. His concentration in the medium of songs with piano
may raise some parallels with Gerald Finzi in England, although Finzi’s concentration
on the lyrics of one poet – Thomas Hardy – gives his song cycles a unity to
which Alnæs cannot and does not aspire.
There are some real masterpieces here, including a setting of Burns’s The
last Psalm, Op.6/5 (track 13, in German translation) which must be among
the best treatments of the Scottish bard ever written. Comprehensive notes
by Audun Jonassen give us plenty of biographical detail as well as detailed
observations on the songs; but the producers have missed a trick by not giving
us the songs in the order of composition, so that the listener can hear the
development in Alnæs’s style to which Jonassen draws our attention.
There is another drawback to this re-ordering of the songs, which is that
in the Op.34 settings which open the disc Ann-Beth Solvang sounds distinctly
small-voiced, and given that she has sung – and recorded – Wagner this suggests
that she is adopting a deliberately intimate tone. Later she gives us her
full voice and makes the Op.6 settings into a real highlight, but the hint
almost of a soubrette does get the disc off to a rather unfortunate
start. She is not helped, either, by a rather closely observed recording acoustic
which gives the impression of an airless studio which also robs the piano
of resonance. One is surprised to note that the recordings were made in a
concert hall, which leads one to suspect too close a placing of the microphones.
A greater sense of atmosphere around the sound would have been welcome.
Alnæs himself was an acclaimed accompanist - that and his conducting duties
restricted his compositional activities - and his piano parts are often surprisingly
elaborate. None of this fazes Erling Ragnar Eriksen, who clearly enjoys the
splashy handfuls of chords that end many of these songs as well as the filigree
harp-like chords in En Vaggvislåt, Op. 41/3 (track 26). Again a greater
distance from the microphone might have lent the sound of the instrument more
atmosphere. I tried using a graphic equaliser and found that this artificial
enhancement helped matters to some extent. The very short Folcke setting En
Vår, Op.41/4 (track 27) then brought the recital to a most satisfactory
conclusion.
The booklet includes full texts (in Norwegian, Swedish and German) and notes
in Norwegian and English. A delightful footnote tells us “The English translations
prepared for this booklet do not aim to reflect the poetic qualities of the
originals, as will soon be evident; they attempt solely to reflect the meaning.
By the same token, some of the originals hardly make more sense than the translations.”
Well, by that same token there does not appear to be an abundance of superlative
poetry here, but then whoever said that great poetry was required to produce
a great song? There really are some very good songs in this collection.
Comparisons with the now-deleted collection of Alnæs songs by Bodil Arnesen
hardly seems relevant, but for the record I note here that only two of the
songs here are duplicated in that recital: Op.22/3 and Op.26/1. Those who
have invested in the earlier release can therefore confidently investigate
this new one without fear of much duplication; and in fact Arnesen includes
the two songs from Op.30 which are omitted by Solvang.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
There really are some very good songs in this collection.
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