Johan Svendsen - Orchestral Works Vol. 1 (Neeme Järvi)

Information

Composer: Johan Svendsen

1. Karneval i Paris, Op. 9
2. Romeo und Julia, Op. 18
3. Fest-Polonaise, Op. 12
4. Romanze, Op. 26
5. Träume (after Wagner)
6. Zorahayda, Op. 11
7. I Fjol gjætt'e Gjeitinn
8. Sæterjentens Søndag
9. Norwegian Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 17
10. Norwegian Rhapsody No. 2, Op. 19

Marianne Thorsen, violin (4)
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Neeme Järvi, conductor

Date: 2011
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010693

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Review

After his Halvorsen series, Järvi moves on to Svendsen

Although Johan Svendsen’s name remains familiar enough as one of the clutch of Norwegian composers one rung down from Grieg and Nordheim, his music is not as well exposed outside Norway as one would expect. Although the (mostly early) larger abstract works tend to attract the most attention nowadays, it is for his smaller, illustrative works that he was celebrated in his lifetime and this welcome Chandos collection focuses attention specifically on some of these.

Rightly praised for orchestral mastery, Svendsen’s music attracted the approbation – and its composer the friendship – of Wagner and Grieg, and Nordic audiences took it and him to their hearts. It is easy to hear why in the exuberance of Carnival in Paris, the Norwegian Rhapsodies or the delicate textures of the The Girl’s Sunday on the Mountain Pasture; I was less taken by the arrangement of Wagner’s ‘Träume’ but the legend Zorahayda, based on a Moorish tale retold by Washington Irving, is a gem of compositional technique. The limitations of Svendsen’s style are also readily apparent in a certain lack of character in his melodic invention; listen just to Romeo und Julia, a ‘symphonic introduction to Shakepeare’s drama’, which has none of the dramatic quality of Tchaikovsky or Prokofiev. In works such as the Festival Polonaise (in honour of the then newly crowned King Oscar II), his skill for occasional music is consummately realised.

With the exception of the famous Romance in G (Thorsen’s is nicely realised), there are few competitors for the works included here and none gathered on the same disc. Järvi once again draws some refined and vibrant playing from the Bergen Philharmonic and Chandos’s warm sound is vivid and bright.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2012/Mar12/Svendsen_orch_v1_CHAN10693.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/June13/Svendsen_orchestral_v123.htm

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Johan Svendsen (30 September 1840 – 14 June 1911) was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist. Born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway, he lived most his life in Copenhagen, Denmark. Svendsen's output includes two symphonies, a violin concerto, a cello concerto, and the Romance for violin, as well as a number of Norwegian Rhapsodies for orchestra. He was very popular in Denmark and Norway during his lifetime, both as a composer and a conductor, winning many national awards and honors. At one time Svendsen was an intimate friend of the German composer Richard Wagner.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Svendsen

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Neeme Järvi (born June 7, 1937 in Tallinn) is an Estonian conductor. He studied at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky and Nikolai Rabinovich, among others. Järvi was Principal Conductor and Music Director of the Gothenburg Symphony (1982-2004), Royal Scottish National Orchestra (1984-1988), Detroit Symphony Orchestra (1990-2005) and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (2012-2015), among others. He made over 400 recordings for labels such as BIS, Chandos and Deutsche Grammophon and best known for his interpretations of Romantic and 20th century classical music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neeme_J%C3%A4rvi

http://www.neemejarvi.ee/

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