Carl
NIELSEN (1865-1931)
1. Aebleblomst, Op.10 No.1
2. Skal Blomsterne Da Visne?, Bk I,
No.1
3. Hogen, Bk I, No.2
4. Saenk Kun Dit Hoved, Du Blomst, Bk
II, No.1
5. Den Forste Laerke, Bk II, No.2
6. Studie Efter Naturen, FS82
Edvard GRIEG
(1843-1907)
7. Varen, Op.33, No.2
8. Med En Vandlilje, Op.25, No.4
9. En Svane, Op.25, No.2
10. Solveigs Sang, Op.23, No.1
11. Solveigs Vuggevise, Op.23, No.2
12. Jeg Elsker Dig!, Op.5, No.3
six songs from op. 48
13. I. Gruss
14. II. Dereinst, Gedanke Mein
15. III. Lauf Der Welt
16. IV. Die Verschwiegene Nachtigall
17. V. Zur Rosenzeit
18. VI. Ein Traum
Ture RANGSTRÖM
(1884-1947)
19. Melodi
20. Pan
21. Afskedet
22. Bon Till Natten
23. Vingar I Natten
Jean SIBELIUS
(1865-1957)
24. Flickan Kom Ifran Sin Alsklings
Mote, Op.37, No.5
25. Illalle, Op.17, No.6
26. Demanten Pa Marssnon, Op.36, No.6
27. Varen Flyktar Hastigt, Op.13, No.4
28. Saf, Saf, Susa, Op.36, No.4
29. Svarta Rosor, Op.36, No.1
Swedish Folksong
30. Som Stjarnan Uppa Himmelen Sa Klar
Hendricks sets out
in the accompanying booklet her testament
and credentials for exploring the Scandinavian
song treasury; not that anyone should
need to justify the adventure - it shows
perception not temerity. She tackled
this territory after her first visit
to Stockholm in 1974. She eventually
married a Swede and became a Swedish
citizen. She clearly has both affection
and respect for Scandinavian audiences
and values their seriousness and enthusiasm
for music. Her operatic career shows
in the strength of her voice but this
is not a voice worn threadbare by the
high notes. Her vibrato is well under
control.
Nielsen is represented
by six songs from his two hundred. How
short they are; none longer than two
minutes. The ones here are all engagingly
artless. Perhaps it takes art to produce
just that effect. The Holstein setting
Aebleblomst shares with the others
a mood and manner that is Schubertian,
often with a Ständchen-like
atmosphere. In Høgen,
the song bursts into a manic flurry
of wings with an energy comparable to
the furious pebbly rush of the piano
part in Den første Laerke.
Nielsen's lark is no fey avian. On the
other hand a more morose world is set
forth in Saenk kun dit Hoved.
Of the Grieg songs
the famous Varen is delivered
at a measured pace - slower than I have
heard before. Then comes Med en vandlilje
which is mercurial and impulsive
after which another Ibsen poem, En
svane takes a mournful course which
in mood perhaps inspired Sibelius to
his own Tuonela swan. There is
some highly characteristic writing here
for the piano. The prayer-like Solveig's
Song is taken as a slow supplication:
Solveig calls down blessing on the errant
Gynt. This is a major song if ever there
was one. Then comes Solveig's Lullaby
rising from lulling peace to dramatic
affirmation. Grieg wrote the Six
German songs Op. 48 striving for
'a broader and more universal vision'.
I think he loses some of his distinctiveness
in this although things return to strength
with the jocose Lauf der welt and
the starry lilt of Die Verschwiegene
Nachtigall. These are fine songs
but Grieg's freshness is not best matched
with the German temperament despite
the pianist’s liberating trills and
flourishes in Ein Traum.
Rangström, poet
and musician, wrote the words for Stenhammar's
cantata Sången. Apart from
his four symphonies there is a host
of songs. Here we are treated to five
of his Bo Bergman settings. The finest
of these is Pan, written
as were all but one of the others in
1924. It catches in sunny stillness
the Scandinavian Mediterranean idyll.
Vingar I natten is a tempestuous
torrent contrasting with Bon till
natten - a much darker song: part
funeral march part lullaby.
An aside: the Third
Symphony does not merit the dismissive
criticism meted out to it by Robert
Layton in his otherwise very strong
notes for this release.
The Sibelius songs
start with the a noble and dramatic
sea-swelling reading of Flickan Kom
Ifran Sin Alsklings Mote. Illalle
chimes with Grieg-like piano figuration
and quietly quick singing line which
made me wonder how well Hendricks would
tackle Luonnotar. Demanten
Pa Marssnon is another thoughtful
song while Varen flyktar hastigt
has a polished cut-glass Chinese
atmosphere. Saf Saf Susa vividly
conjures the very rustling reeds of
which the poem speaks - another example
of Roland Pöntinen's exemplary
way with this music - very much primus
inter pares with Hendricks. Svarta
rosor is a psychologically complex
song speaking of death, pain and beauty.
Hendricks acts it with total engagement
and with an operatically vibrant defiance.
The disc ends with
Hendricks singing, unaccompanied, a
Swedish folk song Som Stjarnan Uppa
Himmelen Sa Klar. The picture evoked
is of the lover knowing her love will
be unreciprocated singing to the starry
firmament. It ends in a touchingly crooned
vocalise.
This is a superb production
in which every care has been taken.
All the words are printed with side
by side translations into English, French
and German.
Fresh and fiery advocacy
for Scandinavian songs - famous and
not so famous - from an idiomatic ambassador
for the genre. I hope there will be
more such collections from Hendricks
and Pöntinen.
Rob Barnett
Barbara Hendricks (soprano) 
