Pearls from the Northern Seas: Violin Masterpieces from North European Composers

Description

Normally, one thinks of pearl-divers as of people from the Southern seas, typically the Tropical ones. Certainly, the ice-cold waters of the polar and subpolar seas are not those most immediately associated with pearl-fishing. And, indeed, the “pearls from the Northern Seas” represented in this Da Vinci Classics album are intangible and invisible, as they represent the domain of the audible.
But, just as the pearls one wears in a necklace, these pearls require patient and astute diving. One has to go deep into the traditional repertoire, where the “usual” things are always found, and, after many layers and concretions of habit and practice, the true oysters are found, some of them hiding valuable pearls.
The pearls offered in this CD, furthermore, are already gathered and collected into a necklace, and a splendid one; one which can be defined as representing Scandinavian music between nineteenth and twentieth century.
Scandinavia occupies a special place in the history of music and culture. Whilst constituted by countries which have well-defined and pronounced differences, it also displays some substantial continuities as concerns language (many people from the different countries are able to understand the language spoken in the others), culture, and, of course, landscapes, climate and what is determined by these elements.
Scandinavia, or at least its southernmost zone, is also close to, or borders with, Germany; this country, in the nineteenth century, justly claimed the role of cradle of Romantic instrumental music. While the musical culture of Romantic Germany represents an unequalled paradise for musicians, and while Western music would be unthinkable without the likes of Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms (to name but three), still the claims to centrality and exclusiveness frequently found in German musical literature are fundamentally unjust. True, Germany was leading the path, with audacious innovators who were so rooted in the music of the past that they could renovate it without betraying its order, discipline and beauty. But other countries followed suit, and at times their marks of originality were not inferior to those of the great German geniuses.
Scandinavia, under this viewpoint, was in a special position. On the one hand, the fiddle had always had a role of preeminence in Scandinavian folk music. There was an indigenous tradition of violin music, at times really complex and elaborated, and which was deeply rooted into, and intertwined with, the very soul of Scandinavian people.
On the other hand, the proximity with Germany made Scandinavia very permeable to the suggestions coming from central Europe.
The struggle to find a voice of their own, open to the mastery of the German musicians and to the forms in which it was expressed, but also to a genuinely Scandinavian vein, to its musical heritage, characterizes almost all of the musicians recorded here, and bears witness to the composers’ effort to create something truly Northern, while remaining intelligible by clever musicians all across the globe. At times, authentic folk tunes are cited; at times, new tunes are created which could be easily accompanied by the many fascinating stories narrated during the long winter nights.
The challenge of finding this delicate balance between what has been already said (at times even what has just been “faulty”) and what is quintessentially Scandinavian is largely won by the musicians represented here. Some of them are in the Gotha of classical music: for instance, Edvard Grieg, some of whose works (not perforce the best) have become true pop icons, and many more are very well known also by the common music lover.
Others are better known among specialists (some of these enthusing over them), but have much to offer also to those who are not familiar with the entire gamut of Western music; among them are certainly Niels W. Gade, Johan Halvorsen and Christian Sinding. Still others are largely unknown even by specialist standard; in their case, initiatives such as this one are all the more praiseworthy, as they bring to the attention of the international community of listeners the work of excellent musicians who, for one reason or another, might be ignored by the large public.
Swedish composer Tor Aulin certainly qualifies as one of these. He was particularly active as a violinist, both in the Orchestra of the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, where he served as concertmaster, and as a chamber musician (the founder and first violin of the Aulin Quartet). Given his activity as a professional violinist, it comes as no surprise that he wrote many works for violin and piano, or for strings, or for violin and orchestra. His Four Aquarelles were written in 1899, when the composer was 33, in their original version for violin and piano; they would obtain great success also in an orchestral transcription by Tor Mann. This small suite alternates pieces with different and diverse moods and styles, ranging from the dreamy to the humorous, from the tender to the lively and vibrant.
Edvard Grieg’s life needs not be recalled, as he was one of the foremost and most celebrated Scandinavian composers ever. He was one of the first to look with interest to the heritage of folk tunes, melodies and dances of his own country, Norway, and of Scandinavia more generally. He made use of a collection of Norwegian folk tunes collected by L. M. Lindeman (1812-1887), and employed some of its most beautiful melodies in several of his works; in others, he was able to create “fake” folk tunes, but with the unmistakable flavour of Scandinavian music. In particular, the tunes from the mountain zones of Norway had a special fascination for him, since they may have represented, in his eyes, the most “authentic” and genuine tradition of Norwegian indigenous music.
Johan Halvorsen became related by marriage with Grieg, whose niece he married; Halvorsen would also orchestrate a funeral march which was to be played at Grieg’s burial. Halvorsen, a Norwegian in turn, was a person who liked moving and travelling, and therefore studied in Oslo and Stockholm, played in the renowned Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, and then became concertmaster in Scotland (Aberdeen), taught in Helsinki, and completed his musical education in St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Liège, before returning to Norway where he had an intense activity as a composer and conductor.
He looked with deep interest to the musical traditions of earlier epochs, and in particular to the Baroque. His Suite Ancienne, his Passacaille and Sarabande are among his most famous works, conceived as a homage to the past, to the Baroque, and in particular to Georg Friedrich Handel. At the same time, the unique feeling of Scandinavian music and its Northern inspiration is impossible to miss. This is certainly a homage to the past, but seen through the eyes of a proud citizen of Scandinavia, whose melodic modes and idiomatic rhythms he did not intend to renounce.
The biography of Christian Sinding has several points in common with Halvorsen’s. Sinding, also from Norway, began his musical education as a pianist and violinist, and, like Halvorsen, went to Germany in order to finish his studies, in Leipzig, Berlin, Dresden and Munich. His works were highly appreciated by Pëtr Ilić Čajkovskij, whose admiration for the Norwegian master brought the musical world’s attention upon him. While Sinding authored works in almost every genre of Western music, it is acknowledged that his most sincere vein is to be found in chamber music, and in particular in pieces such as those recorded here. They represent the late-Romantic strain of his inspiration, with the intense expressivity and elegance of the Waltz and the poignant singing style of the Romanze.
Fini Henriques was a Dane but his birth took place in Frederiksberg, Germany; he came from a family of musicians and received his first musical instruction from his mother. As many of the other composers represented here, he studied in Berlin, in particular under the guidance of legendary violinist Joseph Joachim; later studies took place in other great German and Austrian cities. After some time as a musician of the Danish Royal Chapel, he went on as a freelance violinist and composer. Many of his works are dedicated to the violin, his own instrument and the one he probably favoured. His expertise as a performing violinist allowed him to obtain the maximum effect with the minimum effort, when he so willed; this Is what happens with his Kleine Bunte Reihe, were a relative simplicity at the level of technical challenges does not impact on the beauty of the collection, which provides a formidable outlet for the budding musician’s expressivity and for his or her enjoyment of music.
A similar attitude is found in Aveu, a character piece written by Olga Grevenkop Catenskiold, and obviously reminiscent of the piece by the same name found in Robert Schumann’s Carnaval op. 9 for the piano. Here, as there, the hesitant – at first – and later impassionate words of a lover are given musical form, fittingly employing the violin’s expressive power.
Two other pieces complete this album: Gade’s exquisite Berceuse is a touching piece, full of delicacy and intense expressivity, as befits one of the most important Danish composers of all times, and a representative of the Romantic tradition who was deeply admired by Schumann himself.
Egil Harder’s Romance for violin and piano is yet another example of the fine handling of melody and rhythm found in these Scandinavian composers, whose penchant for nostalgia is a trait unifying many of their works and styles.
Together, these “pearls” really make a necklace worth listening, which brings us to Northern landscapes suffused with light and delicate nuances of sound.
Chiara Bertoglio © 2023