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Sinding is a bigger figure than The Rustle of Spring (Frühlingsrauchen), the miniature that once could be found in every domestic piano stool, could ever hint. There are four symphonies, the last dating from 1936. The are also three violin concertos (1898, 1901, 1917), upwards of 240 songs, an opera Der Heilige Berg (performed in Dessau in 1914 and in Oslo in 1931) as well as a Piano Quintet (1882-84).

His first two symphonies were written around the axis of the turning century. The First is splendidly surging and has a fine broad-leaping theme in the first movement which has something about it of early Tchaikovsky (symphonies 1-3) and of Schumann and Grieg. The Scandinavian character is also unmistakable. The other influence is that of Stenhammar recognisable from hints of pastoral breezes and bracing headlands. There is a lovely andante. Vivace’s ‘folk shivers’ include an aspiring theme in which the allegro moderato is referred back to. This happens again in the finale. Indeed the sense of symphonic cohesion is remarkable especially if you were expecting something ramshackle as befits a miniaturist with ideas above his station. The Second Symphony is not quite as impressive. The accents are now strongly Wagnerian (Meistersinger) mixed with hints of Schumann from the Second and Third symphonies. This carries less conviction than its predecessor. The concluding Allegro is fresh and charming, full of confident bustling energy. The middle movement is in an easy-as-she-goes generalised romantic idiom with nothing I associate with Scandinavian nationalisms. It is, from this point of view, a little like Haakon Børresen's second and third symphonies - blandly conventional and sometimes salon-like. Apart from some Straussian horn writing and some imaginative little touches such as the whisper of violins at 4.48 in the finale. Otherwise that finale might be from one of those ceremonial finales with which Glazunov decked out his sixth and eighth symphonies.

This still leaves me wondering expectantly about the other two symphonies and the violin concertos.

I have not heard the competing versions of these two symphonies by but this one at bargain price is admirably attractive and is given vitality by Rasilainen and his Norwegian orchestra.

Rob Barnett

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