Niels Viggo BENTZON (1919-2000)
Tręsnit (Woodcuts), Op. 65 (1947) [18:03]
Sonata for cor anglais and piano, Op.71 (1951) [10:14]
Piano Sonata No.3, Op.44 (1947) [15:03]
Piano Sonata No.5, Op.77 (1951) [19:16]
Piano Sonata No. 18, Op.459 (1983) [15:16]
Piano Sonata No.19, Op.460 (1983) [15:27]
Partita, Op.38 (1945) [15:40]
Mosaļque Musicale, Op.54 (1950) [12:30]
Ferrucio BUSONI (1866-1924)
Sonatina ‘In diem nativitatis Christi MCMXVII’, K274 (1917) [9:16]
Alexander SCRIABIN (1872-1915)
Sonata No. 9, Op. 68 (1912-13) [9:53]
Goffredo PETRASSI (1904-2003)
Invenzioni per pianoforte (1944) [15:45]
Niels Viggo Bentzon (piano)
Paul Tofte Hansen (cor anglais),
Eyvind Rafn (flute),
Arne Svendsen (violin),
Pierre René Honnens (cello)
rec. 1946-1986, mono and stereo
DANACORD DACOCD859 [78:50 + 78:47]
During the hot Danish summer of 1986 Danacord recorded Niels Viggo Bentzon in sessions at a Copenhagen high school. The result was an LP that captured the executant-composer in fine fettle performing two of his own piano sonatas as well as Scriabin’s Ninth. In fact, he also recorded the Busoni Sonatina and Petrassi’s Invenzioni but there wasn’t room on the LP for them; here they are now, released for the first time to represent the full sessions supervised during June and July that year by Torben Schousboe.
Not surprisingly Bentzon selected two recently composed sonatas, Nos. 18 and 19 written in close proximity during 1983 (the latter bears the dizzyingly high opus number of 460). No.18 shows that earlier influences, principally Bartók and Prokofiev, were still active agents in his music, but strong March themes and a brilliantly barabaro finale reflect both fecund imagination and a still-virile pianistic technique. No.19 is just as engaging with another propulsive Allegro, trumpet-like fanfare figures (is the piano entirely in tune?) and a rocking, rather saturnine Moderato finale. He plays Scriabin’s Ninth Sonata with a sure command of its idiom and, with regard to the two recordings making their premiere appearance, Busoni’s Sonatina ‘In diem nativitatis Christi MCMXVII’ is dispatched with great perception and he latches on to the bustling, vivacious elements, as much as the cautiously reflective ones, of Invenzioni.
For the remainder of this twofer we journey back in time to commercial recordings made by Bentzon on 78s and LP between 1946 and 1954. Woodcuts (Tręsnit), the Cor Anglais sonata, the Fifth Piano Sonata and Mosaļque Musicale are making their first ever appearance on CD according to the documentation though the Partita, Op.38 has appeared on Danacord (DACOCD521-22) as well as on Classico CLASSCD561, which also restored the Piano Sonata No. 3, which is also included in this twofer.
Woodcuts is a sequence of nine pieces, and was recorded for HMV in 1954; spare, taut, brittle and witty, with rhythmic vivacity and a really jazzy Con moto it’s an enticing, satisfying and richly contrasted piece. Composed later, but recorded earlier, is the Cor Anglais sonata, a much more watchful, rather neo-classical affair, where the cor anglais is allowed its loquacious head in the finale. Paul Tofte Hansen is the excellent soloist. Bentzon gives us full percussive urgency in the Fifth Sonata, cleverly varying density and clarity. Is there a sly reference to Mozart’s G minor Symphony? The refinement of the slow movement is matched by the jazzy pungency of the finale.
The Partita was recorded on HMV 78s in 1946 so the sound is much more constricted than the mono LPs. His Allegro second movement is a kind of Bentzon Boogie whilst the two adjacent Intermezzos feed on contrast. This compelling, lively and dramatic work - note the bold chordal flourishes in the finale – really comes alive in the composer’s hands. So too does the Third Sonata, another 78 recording, this time from 1949, a sweepingly virtuosic, post-Lisztian affair with a brief funereal Largo. Mosaļque Musicale was composed in 1950 and recorded for the Triola label in 1954. Bentzon was joined by flautist Eyvind Rafn, violinist Arne Svendsen and cellist Pierre René Honnens. The recording set-up may be close and dry in the Parisian manner but the myriad subtleties of dialogue and exchange emerge fully. Crisp, brisk and clear, the work ends in the balm of reflection.
Jesper Buhl’s booklet notes set the historic scene perfectly and form part of a notably successful restoration.
Jonathan Woolf
