I openly confess to
becoming something of a Tveitt junkie.
I love his wildly untamed, eclectic
mix of styles, where a list of composers
as long as your arm seem to be present,
while the whole thing still comes across
as uniquely energetic and invigorating.
Nadia Boulanger got it just about spot-on
when she declared Tveitt’s music as
‘originality rooted in tradition ...
a breath of fresh Norwegian air’. I
suspect many newer converts (like me)
will be familiarising themselves with
his music through the excellent Naxos
series, which has garnered many rave
reviews – and rightly so. This BIS project
is going head-to-head with the Naxos,
recording all the same works in different
couplings. The problem for BIS is that
the Naxos discs only cost around a third
as much, so the collector will have
to be convinced of something very special
to make them pay the extra. On the evidence
of the present release, it will be hard
to do that.
It’s not that there
is a problem with the playing or recording
quality from BIS, it’s just that there’s
no way it’s two-thirds better than the
Naxos. For a start, there is a tendency
in the BIS version of the Fifth Piano
Concerto to relax slightly too much
in the lyrical sections. Try the Tippett-like
episode at 5’57 (track 1) where the
degree of extra urgency in the Naxos
performance is welcome. The very opening’s
now infamous four-note statement, with
its more-than-a-hint of Holst’s Uranus,
also comes more alive in the Naxos version,
the extra rasp from the brass giving
the music a suitably cutting edge. Sometimes
Ole Kristian Ruud’s phrasing and tempo
do make more sense, as at 8’05 into
the finale (track 3), but generally
the slightly brighter, more forwardly-balanced
recording from Naxos, together with
razor-sharp pianism from the superb
Harvard Gimse, do tend to give his version
the edge.
The Hardanger Variations,
effectively a double piano concerto,
is more evenly balanced. The variations
are structured in typically original
fashion, some very short, some very
long, some reappearing later etc. It
makes the whole piece feel rhapsodic,
almost improvisatory, and here the piano
teams on both recordings are on good
form. Orchestral details abound, but
it is worth mentioning the wonderfully
evocative lone clarinet episode (around
5’21), with its Mahlerian intensity
evoking the very night sky that so influenced
Tveitt. The BIS performance really is
very good indeed, but turning to the
Naxos revealed just as satisfying a
rendition. It really is close in terms
of artistic quality, though again I
marginally prefer the sharper-focused
recorded sound from Naxos.
So, if it’s cost that
will sway you, there is obviously no
contest. Another deciding factor may
be the excellent Naxos booklet essays
from David Gallagher. These are a model
of intelligence and lucidity, full of
the sort of detail and insight that
might be expected when one of his acknowledged
sources is the Tveitt family archive.
Tony Haywood
Nils Mortensen, Sveinung Bjelland (pianos)
