June 19, 2014

  • New Music from a Modern Danish Master

     Per Norgard: Symphonies 1 & 8
    Vienna Philharmonic/Sakari Oramo
    DaCapo 6.220574
    Total Time:  57:09
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Some of the most interesting symphonists in the 20th century seem to come from Northern Europe: Petterson, Sibelius, Nielsen.  Per Norgard is being acclaimed as a new “visionary” compositional voice.  The Danish composer has to date written some 400 works, and to date eight symphonies.  The present release brings together the works from the outer edges of his symphonic essays with the opportunity to hear his first symphony next to his recent eighth completed in 2011 and given its world premiere recording.  Very surprising is that this recording is with the Vienna Philharmonic, an ensemble whose connections to Nordic music seem tenuous at best.  Historically, one of the more amusing anecdotes is that they hold the distinction of having one of the great recorded Sibelius symphony cycles made with Lorin Maazel.  Here they are led by the young Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo who was the season guest conductor when these recordings were made.

    Norgard had recently begun studies with the Danish composer Vagn Holmboe whose instruction related to thematic metamorphosis would inform the first symphony.  Together they studied Sibelius’ symphonies which made an additional significant impact on the young composer.  In 1955 when Norgard completed the symphony, some aspects of his studies would inform the work.  The opening bass clarinet and timpani are a reference to Sibelius’ own first symphony, though this is a far cry aesthetically from that music.  Later a “bird cry” recalls Tapiola as well.  That aside, this “Austere Symphony” as it is subtitled, features key aspects of Norgard’s developing style in its use of shifting motifs that never seem to find an anchor,  a variety of rhythmic layers, and a transformation of musical ideas.  Some have called it a “Nordic Noir” work.  The drama of the piece is unmistakable with intense outbursts from the orchestra alongside intriguing turns of phrase.  The variety of instrumental combinations for the various motivic threads also is often quite fascinating.  The center of the opening movement finds some momentary calm but is still continuously moving into new areas.  (The intensity of this writing, and somewhat modal inflections find some parallels in the darker reaches of Rozsa, though the resulting language is worlds apart.)  A final major chord announcement finds some hope as the first movement comes to a close.  What is always fascinating is the way a major harmonic area will just suddenly swell out of the texture (very Sibelius-like at times, though in strings more than brass) amid sinuous, and somewhat sensual writing.  The final movement features a return to continuous nervous energy against interesting motivic repetition and angst-driven angular ideas against occasional ostinato patterns.  The performance is a very well thought out one with excellent ensemble and a great dramatic energy that makes the work quite engaging.  Even some later high string passages, with flitting woodwind ideas, manages to stay well in tune.  In the only other recorded performance (a 1995 Danish RSO release with Leif Sergerstam) the timing seems to be overall slightly faster.  Here ideas are really allowed to unfold well without any damage to the structure and flow of the work.  The final bars are quite thrilling.

    The eighth symphony is the composer’s most recent essay in this genre and is receiving its world premiere recording here from the VPO’s 2012-2013 concert season.  It too consists of three movements.  The first of these is again the longest (by a few minutes).  It opens with a flurry of color and motives cast throughout the orchestra.  The composer comments about these as a “ziggurat” effect of constant spirals in a seemingly random fashion.  There are still moments of lyric lines, but the overall array of effects is rather dizzying at times as they enter in and out of the sound picture in seeming random fashion.  Often two or three lines will weave in and around one another within an instrumental grouping with other sections attempting to catch up or join in the interplay.  The sense of the music can feel overall disjointed at first, though it is clear that repeated motivic ideas are holding things together on one level.  As the movement progresses, it feels as if ideas are practically flying off the grid.  In the central movement, a sense of calm is created in a rondo form where the primary material is varied three times interrupted by quicker interludes.  Still, the music seems to spiral away, reaching out to other heights and feeling a bit random as well, and yet repeated ideas help to maintain some sense of the structure.  The final movement is also a bit restless and features a plethora of ascending scalar motion that recall the opening movement.  Things get a bit more intense and ecstatic until everything seems to move up and over us into the ether disappearing as it goes.

    Norgard’s music is unique in its tightly-constructed sense of motivic transformation whose repetition allows the listener to discern the shape of the piece.  The first symphony is a rather intense affair, but is in some respects more accessible at first than the eighth.  However, the variety of orchestral color and energy makes the latter work quite appealing and the sense of magical fluttering that occurs when mallet percussion enter is rather entrancing.  It is another highly dramatic piece with moments that seem almost drunken.  Both receive quite excellent performances here and the disc’s excellent sound quality allows you to hear the various strands of this music even in large climaxes.  The music may not be for everyone’s taste, but coming as bookends to some of the more serial and experimental pieces from the central portion of Norgard’s creative life, it does make for an apt introduction to his music.