Classical Music

NIELSEN Aladdin • Gennady Rozhdestvensky, cond; Mette Ejsing (alt); Guido Paevatalu (bar); Danish Natl SO & CCh • CHANDOS 10498 (79:34)


“It took some time for Nielsen to enter in the spirit of the oriental world in order to be able to compose original, suggestive music and not only imitations of folkloristic motifs,” writes Sussie Grevsen, in the liner notes to this release. There may be something in that to explain why the entirety of Aladdin —all 31 pieces, lasting a generous 79:34—is moderately underwhelming. Nielsen appears to have focused much of his efforts on providing musical backdrops; and while 13 of these cuts understandably have a low profile so as not to detract from text being recited in performance (omitted here), they don’t make for memorable listening. As much can be written, as well, of the Genie’s three separate minute-long utterances; a men’s chorus intoning a written text in unison on one note over a few spare, uninteresting chords adds little to the work. The incidental music is at its best, I think, in much of act III, which functions as exotically colored ballet music. Not coincidentally, it also furnished five out of the seven pieces included in the orchestral suite of excerpts Nielsen created. Elsewhere, however, the work usually fails to sustain interest on its own, and the sense of mystery and fantasy that underlies J. P. E. Hartmann’s score on the same subject is largely lacking.


That noted, if you do want all of Aladdin , this disc is the only way to currently acquire it. Rozhdestvensky and the Danish Natl SO recorded this back in 1993, and it’s been available ever since. There’s excellent pacing, and plenty of color when it’s required—though I still find Friedel/Aarhus SO (MSR Classics 1150; suite only) superior in creating organized chaos during the “Marketplace in Ispahan” sequence. Mette Ejsing is suave and affecting in her few selections, as is Guido Paevatalu, whom I liked so well in the eponymous role of Børresen’s The Royal Guest (dacapo 8.226020).


The new release is labeled “digitally remastered,” but I really can’t find any audio differences between this re-release and my original copy. The sound in any case is good, while Chandos provides full texts and translations. The price is lower, too, so this is the one to get, if you want it all.


FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

NIELSEN: Chamber Music, Vol. 1

NIELSEN: Chamber Music, Vol. 2 - Violin Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2

Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen is a composer fully capable of writing insistent, rhythmically marked music. This new CD centers on a tiny, striking dance motif that is taken on unpredictable detours off the beaten track. Hvidtfelt Nielsen has been a composer-in-residence with Randers Chamber Orchestra, whose conductor, David Riddell, leads the way here through devil-may-care dance, momentary idyll and dangerous diversions.

The idea of building great music from modest or fragmentary means has characterized the work of Nordic composers for generations. In Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen’s music, that idea finds a particularly exquisite and absolutely contemporary expression. In Toccata the music glances towards a filmic chase-down, whereas Nielsen in Ophelia Dances claims to ‘hear the dancing’ of that fragile character from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The album concludes with Nielsen’s single-movement symphony, Symphony No. 3, which sets in motion a cumulative journey upwards from low to high: a symphonic Tower of Babel, reaching for the heavens. All of the works on this release are world premiere recordings, and the album is being released to mark Svend Hvidfelt Nielsen’s 60th birthday. Nielsen is also a gifted church organist, and on this album he plays the organ solo part in the Toccata.

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REVIEW:

The Ophelia Dances is certainly strange and interesting music, more “ambient” in sound but still well structured beneath its odd sonorities. Though apparently a continuous work, it is clearly composed in discrete movements, placing the accordion in the midst of bitonal swirls of sound and pungent brass and string interjections.

The Symphony No. 3, written in 2010, uses a sort of musical “big bang” at the outset, followed by “stuttering fragments” which “muster to initiate the development of the symphony’s vertical structure, supported by foundations in the form of tectonic pedal notes.” This is indeed a technical description of what happens, but the listening process is more emotional and therefore more fascinating.

A strange sort of album, then, yet fascinating and certainly worth a listen!

– Arts Music Lounge

NIELSEN, C.: Piano Music, Vol. 2

NIELSEN, C.: String Quartets, Vol. 2

NIELSEN, C.: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3

Adrian Leaper and his sparkling Irish orchestra recorded all of Carl Nielsen's symphonies for Naxos in the mid-1990s and all three discs (the others are here: Nielsen - Symphonies & Nielsen - Symphonies) are worth hearing. Adrian Leaper's readings of Nielsen's First and Sixth Symphonies are dramatic, exciting, and filled with such conviction that I'd be hard pressed to find an alternative recording. Nielsen's First Symphony, written for his wife, is a tentative symphony; a composer just getting his feet wet in the symphonic pool, but the results are wonderful. The symphony is filled with ideas, intense motifs and a hint to the stunning symphonic masterpieces that would come later. Leaper and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland revel in Nielsen's symphonic beginnings and the result is a joyous but focused reading. The Sixth Symphony is a much more serious - and much more polished work - and Leaper and his orchestra make all the right choices: fast tempos, tight playing, and never just scratching the surface of some intense themes.

It would be easy to just say that if you like Brahms and Schumann--and perhaps Wolf without the diminished chords--you'll like these very attractive and very accessible songs by Carl Nielsen. But that would shortchange the substantially original aspects of these pieces, which represent the Danish composer's efforts at songwriting throughout most of his career. For instance, neither Brahms nor Schumann are anywhere to be found in the lovely, lilting melody and swirling accompaniment to Op. 10's "Sommersang" from 1894, nor in "Silkesko over gylden laest!" (from Op. 6), whose musical setting is so perfectly aligned with the rhythms and sounds of the Danish text that it's hard to imagine it performed in any translation. In fact, almost all of Nielsen's songs are set to Danish poetry--much of it written by his favorite J.P. Jacobsen--and this gives a special color to the sung notes, given pre-eminence by the composer's stated desire to never overshadow the words with obtrusive piano parts.


Highlights include the two-minute "Genrebillede" (Period piece), a delicate and dramatic gem, "Seraferne" (The Seraphs), which playfully alternates major and minor chords, the Op. 4 songs (with their more overt Brahmsian influence), and the simple yet captivating melodies of "Underlige aftenlufte!" (Oh, strange evening breezes) and the Italian pastoral song "Italiensk hyrdearie". The program-ending duet from Nielsen's opera Masquerade is a charmer.


All of these 23 pieces are sung to near-perfection--with lovely tone, excellent expressive control, and native sensitivity to interpretation and pronunciation--by soprano Inger Dam-Jensen (who reminds me of a young Dawn Upshaw) and baritone Morten Ernst Lassen, ably accompanied by Ulrich Staerk. My only complaint is the bright, airy sound that causes the piano to become somewhat harsh at louder volume. But song enthusiasts will definitely want to have this rare and very worthy entry in the Nielsen and solo-song discography.
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

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