Search - Svendsen, Mikkelsen, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra :: Johan Svendsen: Symphonic Works

Delightful Music by a Norwegian Composer

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 07/31/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Until I got this three CD set of orchestral music by Norwegian composer Johan Svendsen (1840-1911) he was only a name to me. I didn't ever recall hearing any of his music. But with a three CD set costing only a little over $20 I figured 'what the heck!'. And, boy, was I pleased with what I heard. The set contains his two symphonies on one CD, a number of short works and tone poems on another, and then another primarily filled with his four Norwegian Rhapsodies. And there's not a weak work amongst them. His style is high Romantic, sounding a lot like Grieg (probably because of the frequent use of Norwegian-sounding melodies) but he's a much more skillful and inventive orchestrator than Grieg, his near contemporary (three years younger). He studied in Leipzig primarily with Carl Reinecke (another composer I'm only just now discovering, to my great pleasure) and then lived most of his adult life in Copenhagen, as there was little work for him Norway at that time.



The two symphonies, written in 1867 and 1876 respectively, are lush, beautifully orchestrated and full of inventive ideas. There was a third symphony (and, as it happens, the last major orchestral work from his pen) but his wife burnt it after intercepting a bouquet of flowers from an unknown female admirer who declared her love for him. This so upset Svendsen, who had spent months writing it, that he laid down his pen and wrote little more although he lived another twenty-five years. Not surprisingly Svendsen and his wife separated not long after the incident, whose general outline actually was used by Ibsen in 1901 in his play 'Hedda Gabler'.



The 'Norwegian Artist's Carnival' immediately preceded the Second Symphony and is a high-spirited romp. 'Romeo and Juliet', which is roughly contemporaneous with Tchaikovsky's fantasy-overture on the same subject but which Svendsen did not know, outlines Shakespeare's plot in music. The tone poem 'Festival in Paris' is Lisztian in style, as are 'Zorahayda' and 'Sigurd Slembe'. Svendsen actually showed 'Festival in Paris' to Wagner while in Bayreuth and Wagner commented favorably on it. The 'Festival Polonaise' and 'Andante funèbre' conclude CD 2.



CD 3 is taken up with 'Sigurd Slembe', an orchestration of a Norwegian folk song, 'Ifjol gjaett' e gjeitinn' ('Last year I herded the goats') and the 'Four Norwegian Rhapsodies', the latter filled with lovely reminiscences of Norwegian folk melody and tonal depictions of Norway's glorious land- and seascapes.



The performances here by the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra under Terje Mikkelsen do not have the last degree of suavity but they are certainly more than adequate and make a wonderful case for the music of Johan Svendsen.



Recommended for those eager to investigate late 19th-century Scandinavian orchestral music. They will not be disappointed.



Scott Morrison"

Good music

Newton Ooi | Phoenix, Arizona United States | 10/22/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Johan Svendsen is one of many great Scandinavian composers that is rarely known outside of dedicated classical music fans. This is unfortunate as his music is great and very entertaining. This 3-disc set is a compilation of Svendsen's best symphonic pieces, and they are typical romance music; lively, melodic and along the same lines as the ballets and symphonies of contemporaries such as Massenet, Mehul, Brahms, Grieg and Glazunov. All in all, a good set of music."