Naxos has been steadily
and chronologically working its way
through the Björling discography
but there is plenty of room in an admittedly
crowded market for these late songs
and ballads recordings. One says late
but as he died aged only forty-nine
much is "late." Many of these
romantic pieces were featured in Björling’s
Swedish concerts and as was so often
the case he was partnered by The Royal
Orchestra and his old colleague Nils
Grevillius (except for the Nordqvist
where he teamed up with Stig Westerberg).
It’s a pleasure to
start with the two Alfvén songs,
the first Jag längtar dig an
exercise in legato and corresponding
stentorian power (and a successful battle
to keep up pitch at the end). The second,
Så tag mit hjerte, gives
us Björling’s effulgent head voice.
The string writing in Petersen-Berger’s
När jag för mig själv
I mörka skogen går is
delightfully, and very lyrically, conceived,
whilst by contrast (and this is despite
the romantic profile a disc of contrasts)
Till havs (the Nordqvist) is
punchy and turbulent. The stirring anthem
Sverige comes from the pen of
Stenhammar and Sibelius’ Säv,
säv, susa [Sigh, Rushes,
Sigh] shows the voice is not too big
to encompass intimacy of gesture and
refinement of sentiment – beautifully
shaped singing. There is balladry and
the bardic too, as one might expect
– sample the harp bardic Kung Heimer
och Aslög, the adamantine drama
of the Beethoven and there’s
some can belto in the final piece, Adolphe
Adam’s O helga natt. He does
use a head voice that strays dangerously
close to a croon in Tonerna and
to be frank Land, du välsignade
is a pop piece accompanied by a
big bash on the cymbals. Sometimes,
too, the recordings can be a touch raw
but nothing to disperse the pleasure.
There’s an attractive
booklet and English translations are
provided, along with some atmospheric
photographs. Used as a CD-ROM you get
even more, as noted above and that includes
biographical and archival material of
real value to Björling admirers.
Jonathan Woolf
see also
review by Rob Barnett