GLASS, L.: Symphony No. 5 / SIMONSEN, R.: Symphony No. 2 (Danish National Radio Symphony, Grondahl) (1954, 1956, 1957) (Louis Glass - Rudolph Simonsen - Hakon Borresen)

Album review

Danacord's Danish Symphonies of the Late Romantic Period collects four symphonies falling under that general designation in archival recordings made for Danish Radio in the 1950s. The great conductor Launy Grøndahl leads the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra in these performances. Grøndahl was also an outstanding composer most noted for his trombone concerto; he died in 1960.
The recordings, while mono and made between 1954 and 1957, sound quite good apart from some momentary flutter and the occasional dropout, although they are a bit bright; cranking down the treble a bit helps reduce the glare. As the performances are live, expect to hear a cough or page turn once in awhile, though the audience in Copenhagen is remarkably quiet and attentive. The "Sinfonia Svastica" No. 5 in C major, Op. 57, by Louis Glass and the Hakon Børresen's Symphony No. 2 "The Sea" in A major, Op. 7, both exist in one other recording each; however, this is one's only option for symphonies are Rudolf Simonsen (Symphony No. 2, "Hellas") and Herman Sandby (Symphony No. 4). The term "general designation" as it applies to the heading "late romantic period" in the title is meant here to be functional since the Herman Sandby work, dating from 1955, is influenced by impressionism à la Frederick Delius and Simonsen's betrays some vestiges of the influence of modernism -- it was written in 1921.
The Danish symphony as a whole is dominated by one towering figure; Carl Nielsen, who throws a shadow so wide as to obliterate nearly everyone in its path. Only Rued Langgaard has managed to establish a tenuous hold outside of it; such recognition eluded Langgaard during his own lifetime and was slow in coming afterward. Other than Sandby's symphony all three works are programmatic -- Glass' symphony has a "day in the life" styled program reminiscent of Richard Strauss' Sinfonia Domestica, for Simonsen ancient Greece proves the stimuli and Børresen's is a "sea symphony," not to mention the weakest of the four. Although annotator Mogens Wenzel Andreasen favors the Glass, in a way the most compelling symphony is Sandby's; while its last movement whips up a frenzy that goes on a bit too long, Grøndahl keeps it a very exciting, even emotionally draining frenzy and palpitating at white-hot temperatures. Indeed, the listener desiring to hear these performances at all should be approaching this set with an aim to hear Grøndahl's work in these native compositions, which is authoritative; it's not like he commercially recorded these pieces, or really much else. If that is the end one seeks, then there shouldn't be anything disappointing about Danacord's Danish Symphonies of the Late Romantic Period; one will want to adjust the sound to one's liking, however.

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