A number of these songs are the kind of thing that Aksel Schiøtz used to sing with such aplomb and conviction. His voice was to the manner born when it came to lyricism and sensitivity and for a moment I thought that Elisabeth Meyer-Topsøe’s might prove too rich a soprano to do justice to these essentially miniature settings.

The programme is divided into seasons and themes – Love and Longing occupies one section as does The Country and its history. Many are simple and reflective and none, including the Nielsen settings, stretch the boundaries too far. The songs range in date from the 1790s to about 1950, which is from J.A.P. Schultz to Otto Mortensen, and often set the superior lyrics of leading poets such as Andersen, Oehlenschläger and Jensen. But many took simpler and less crafted lyrics, of which there are a number here, and a fair few of the composers are hardly household names either. So there is real democracy at work in the selection. The songs mirror contemporary themes of course – whether in terms of the revival of folk music or in increased patriotism in the light of the threats to Danish political and geographic independence. Later still Nielsen and Laub tended to strip away the late Romantic barnacles and things became increasingly strophic.

We all know what we do with the second verse of an English folk song – sing it louder than the first – but what does one do with Danish folk songs? Pretty much the same it seems. These are lyrical generous hearted settings without huge demands except on the apt sustaining of mood and contrast, feeling and intimacy, pacing and sense of line. Meyer-Topsøe’s voice is a strong instrument but it does well by the songs, though it would be a heroic undertaking to listen to the disc all the way through without feeling a certain degree of torpor (I’ve tried). One can enjoy the bell chimes of Jeg er havren. Jeg har bjælder på and the simplicity of Septembers Himmel er så blå. More serious emotions are explored in a farewell setting such as Oluf Ring’s Sig nærmer tiden and the chill of Laub’s 1914 Det er hvidt herude. Listening to Aagaard’s Spurven sidder stum bag kvist put me in mind melodically speaking of a rather more central European scene, namely Good King Wenceslas as he was looking out on the Feast of Stephen, an occupation much indulged in that neck of the woods. The Nielsen settings are simple and charming – especially the delightful Jeg bærer med smil min byrde (1915) – but the generally slow moving convoy of folk material is spruced up by an allegretto-ish 1911 setting by Alfred Toft, Ole sad på en knold og sang (Ole sat singing on a knoll). There are some hints of Schubert in Gade’s På Sjølunds fagre sletter and in the same section, The Country and its History, Nielsen shows that patriotism in musical terms need not equal bombast (try Som en rejselysten flåde).

Elisabeth Meyer-Topsøe has quite a big voice, which she scales down well, and prominent vibrato. Some may feel it’s too big a voice for some of these settings but I find it generally well deployed and very convincingly musical. Pianist Per Salo plays well – and relishes time "off the leash" in the pianistic setting Nu er dagen fuld af sang, a Nielsen song that allows witty independence to the piano line. The notes are good and there are full texts in Danish and English. Don’t do with this disc what you do with a box of chocolates - a few at a time is the healthier option.

Jonathan Woolf

 

 

Advertising Rates
Visitor stats
MusicWeb International
has over 21,000 Classical CD reviews on offer

Gerard Hoffnung Concerts &
The Bricklayer Story

New Releases

New Releases

MusicWeb Recommended Recordings 2008

DISCS OF THE YEAR 2007