Carl NIELSEN (1865-1931)
Violin Concerto Op. 33 (1911) [39:05]
Jean SIBELIUS (1865-1957)
Violin Concerto in D minor Op. 47 (1903-5) [33:37]
Johan Dalene (violin)
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra/John Storgårds
rec. 7-10 June 2021, Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden
BIS BIS2620 SACD [73:32]
The Nielsen and Sibelius violin concertos make an obvious coupling, and a good one. The composers, born in the same year, both played the violin, yet their concertos make quite a contrast. The Sibelius is long established in the central repertoire. Not so the Nielsen. Robert Simpson claimed that, of Nielsen’s three concertos – for violin, flute, and clarinet – “it is significant that the biggest and most imposing of the three, the Violin Concerto, is the least important”.
But “important” is not synonymous with “attractive”, and one always welcomes performances of Nielsen’s appealing piece as good as this one. Swedish violinist Johan Dalene was 18 when he won the Nielsen competition in 2019 with a remarkably mature account of the work; it is still available to watch free online. This studio recording revisits it with differences of detail but not of broad conception.
Dalene’s account, like the piece itself, is spacious. The concerto is sometimes referred to as a 35-minute work, so his 39:05 here is at one extreme. (Cho-Liang Lin needs 36:01, Maxim Vengerov 36:18, Baiba Skride 37:30, while Nikolaj Znaider, a judge at that 2019 Nielsen competition, has it both ways: 39:23 in the 2014 account on Warner, but just 35:08 on Dacapo in a 2015 live performance.) But there is also the matter of emotional scale, and in that regard Dalene is spot on. This is not a concerto somehow failing to be “important”, to quote Simpson, but a demanding concertante work with a unique aesthetic, not easy to make as convincing as Dalene does. His way with the five cadenza or cadenza-like passages in the concerto is very arresting, in both execution and in the contrast he finds between them. His lyrical playing is warm both in the tone he draws from his Stradivarius, and in the affection of his phrasing; his intonation is sure. Above all, his virtuosity is everywhere apparent but nowhere self-regarding: technique at the service of the music and of Dalene’s vision of it. The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and John Storgårds make very attentive collaborators.
There might be a better version of the Nielsen out there, but this surely belongs among the very best. If you wish to know more, locate the Gramophone May 2019 issue. Andrew Mellor, in an authoritative piece, researched over twenty versions going back to 1947 for a “Gramophone Collection” on the concerto. His leading recommendations were Vilde Frang (Warner, 2011) and Cecilia Zilliacus (dB Productions, 2014), neither coupled with the Sibelius.
The Sibelius too is a very good account but perhaps without quite the same sense of identification with the work one feels in the Nielsen, and certainly sees on the 2019 competition film. This a large concerto in the classical mould is no less demanding technically and aesthetically than the Nielsen. Dalene again meets its demands in both respects. His long opening solo is poetic and restrained, and he gives the music its head from the veloce marking onwards. The orchestral tutti at the Allegro molto is stirring enough in its Kalevala mood, but then the RSPO are quite at home with this composer. They have just bid farewell to Sakari Oramo’s thirteen years at the helm with a Sibelius cycle including this concerto. In the adagio di molto, Dalene is poised and evocative, and in the dancing finale his entry is as emphatic as its energico marking implies. Some others make a bit more of the weirdly whistling harmonics than he does, but his passagework in the coda is impressively despatched. If not quite as distinctive as the Nielsen, this is still a fine interpretation.
The Sibelius alternatives are legion and often very distinguished, from Jascha Heifetz’s 1935 account, a recording which helped establish the work in the repertory, to much later in the century when three women, Ida Haendel, Victoria Mullova and Kyung-Wha Chung, were long-standing top recommendations. But in this coupling the choice is limited: the concerti are not often heard together. Despite one recent claim that this now rivals Bruch and Mendelssohn as a popular coupling, there are just four, including this one. Worth considering are the 1996 version by Maxim Vengerov with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim, and the 1987 version by Cho-Liang Lin with the Philharmonia (Sibelius) and the Swedish RSO (Nielsen) both conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen; Lin and Salonen are probably to be preferred. The third version, most recent, is by Baiba Skride on Orfeo. I have not heard that but it was reasonably well received. It adds a disc (at no extra cost) which enables the inclusion of Sibelius’s Two Serenades for Violin and Orchestra.
If SACD and surround sound is an important consideration, then on Dacapo there is the aforementioned Nikolaj Znaider, with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic conveniently coupled with Nielsen’s other two concertos. This will be the ideal coupling for many collectors. This is Znaider’s second recording of the work, and his second best in the views of some, but I like the ‘liveness’ of its live recording, the virtuosic extrovert interpretation, and the New York Phil’s considerable contribution. Although is was only issued in 2015, it may already be hard to find a copy. For an SACD of the Sibelius concerto, there is Jennifer Pike’s excellent 2014 account, with the Bergen Philharmonic and Andrew Davis on a fine-sounding Chandos SACD collection which includes the Karelia Suite, Finlandia and other popular Sibelius items.
If you want this coupling, and especially if the Nielsen is your main concern, and you require high resolution and surround sound, then this BIS SACD can be recommended: it is superbly played and the coupling has no SACD rivals. There is a useful booklet note and the sound is fine. Once again, we should note BIS’s continued support for the hi-res format, when the disc issues of some other companies have abandoned it or become erratic in its use.
Roy Westbrook
