"The two symphonies on the CD are his first and his last so far. Different as they are, they share several features; both internal phenomena such as a spatial dimension in the music, and external factors such as the connections with Denmark's Nordic neighbour Finland. In Symphony no. 1 we hear a link with Finland's great composer Sibelius, and in 2012 the Eighth Symphony was given its first performance by the Helsinki Philharmonic, the orchestra which a century earlier premiered most of Sibelius' symphonies. The symphony is dedicated to the chief conductor of the orchestra, John Storgårds.
"Nørgård's very distinctive creative talent came more or less out of the blue – his parents had a drapery shop, and there were no musicians in the family. But in his boyhood years he was already writing music, and at the age of 17 he became a private pupil of the great Danish composer Vagn Holmboe.
"Holmboe's life close to nature and his ideas on musical metamorphosis were of huge importance to the young Copenhagener, and Holmboe's masterly Symphony no. 8, 'Sinfonia boreale' ('Northern Symphony') from 1953 actually changed his life. It gave him the idea of writing a symphony himself, and sparked off notions of a Nordic world of music: one that he had a strong urge to define in more detail.
"At that time Nørgård knew only a couple of Sibelius' seven symphonies – Holmboe had given him the score of the First Symphony shortly after they met – but now he went to work on all of them, and in Nørgård's own words this was 'a shock of an encounter that struck something deep inside my mind.'
"In 1954 Nørgård summoned up courage and sent Sibelius a long letter of homage which included an analysis of his style. In contrast to the age's view of Sibelius as a dinosaur from National Romanticism, Nørgård admired his sophisticated musical structures.
"'Your music is, in a way that far exceeds your contemporaries, in touch with the elementary, innermost and quite timeless forces of existence, with nature in the broadest sense. I felt this mystical connection with existence at the same time as I became aware of my nature as indefinably northern. The pure northern air, the powerful darkness and the crystal-clear, undimmed light; this, the Nordic feeling for nature, is today one of the most precious things in my life.'
"Sibelius replied approvingly: 'I am surprised to see how deeply you have delved into my music. Only rarely have I received letters that show such an understanding of my creation.' At the same time he praised the Quintet op. 1 that Nørgård had sent with the letter, and in a subsequent letter Sibelius accepted the dedication of Nørgård's choral work 'Aftonlandet' ('The Evening Land').
"The last chapter in the story of this meeting of composers followed the same year when the 22-year-old Nørgård was a member of a Nordic delegation and visited the 89-year-old Sibelius at his home Ainola – but he did not dare make himself known to the older composer...
"In 1955 Nørgård finished his First Symphony, his largest work so far, which he gave the title 'Sinfonia austera' ('Austere Symphony'). In the symphony Per Nørgård does nothing to conceal the link with his Finnish model. It begins with a bass clarinet and a timpani roll, not unlike the introduction to Sibelius' First Symphony, and a few minutes into the movement it quotes the 'bird cry' from Tapiola, Sibelius' last orchestral work about the Nordic nature-universe.
"But Sinfonia austera is not an imitation – it is inspired by and further develops Sibelius' thoughts and structures, marking the emergence of a new composer's personality. In this youthful work we already sense the ambivalence that is so characteristic of Nørgård's music: motifs that shift place without settling; rhythmic layers that open up a new dimension; metamorphoses with an undercurrent that is sombre and mysterious. It is a vibrant version of 'Nordic Noir,' a powerful, unorthodox drama of mankind and the elements.
"'Sinfonia austera' was unfortunately long in finding its audience, and it has always been a neglected work. The first performance was a studio production with the conductor Lamberto Gardelli, broadcast on national Danish radio in 1958. Not until 1963 was the symphony played in a concert, and by that time Nørgård had moved into a quite different artistic phase. His interest had veered from the Nordic landscape towards central European serial music, and a break with his mentor Holmboe had become necessary.
"Today, more than half a century later, it is clear that Nørgård's First Symphony is not an isolated work of his youth, but the beginning of a lifelong development of fundamental ideas. A specific example is the conclusion of the symphony – its most radical section – which turns up in a multifarious, chaotic version as the conclusion of the Fifth Symphony from 1990. Nor has Nørgård ever rejected his first work in the genre:
"'The austere character, in its earnestness, is undoubtedly very youthful. But since life and music are in so many ways just as indubitably youthful, I see no reason to dissociate myself from – or kill off – my First Symphony.'
"The leap from Per Nørgård's First Symphony to the Eighth Symphony seems enormous, but it is not solely a matter of chronology. 'Each of my symphonies has its own personality, which cannot be repeated,' he says himself, and this is very much the case with Symphony no. 8, whose character does not have much in common either with its closest predecessor, the aggressive Seventh Symphony from 2006.
"Symphony no. 8 is bright and playful, more transparent and airy than any other Nørgård has written. At the same time it is a highly Classical symphony. Its three separate movements are archetypes from the Classical tradition: a full, active first movement, a slow second movement and a fast final movement. 'The three possible states,' Nørgård calls them.
"The first movement is the longest, and has a content that develops luxuriantly. Glittering scales run both up and down – Nørgård compares this to spiral patterns or to the stepped pyramids of Mesopotamia – the ziggurats – while a horizon is maintained as a 'floor' in the midst of the music. The motions shift in lively fashion in many simultaneous layers without any sense of strict regularity. The process seems to take place all by itself.
"The canvas of sonorities is stretched tautly from top to bottom, and Nørgård paints on it with wonderfully light, transparent brush strokes. Out of the growing mass of the orchestra individual masses are drawn in surprisingly concertante elements: four flutes are give a prominent role as the movement changes to a siciliano rhythm in 6/8, and towards the end a group of celesta, piano, vibraphone and glockenspiel emerges with something that recalls a solo cadenza.
"After the thematic activity and drive of the first movement the slow second movement is pure being, where the reflections have the same point of origin. In Nørgård's own words, the music is 'sensually melodic,' but with innumerable facets added: not only orchestral layers, but also the way the main subject of the movement appears in three different variants. 'Three revolving stages, each with its own mobile expression,' Nørgård calls it. In this way the movement takes the form of a rondo, where the presentations of the theme are separated by quick, dynamic interludes.
"The last movement presents a third state: 'The state where you have nothing to hold on to,' Nørgård has explained. The movement begins restlessly and with no fixed grounding, and the ascending scales from the first movement haunt it in hyperactive, restless form. In time the orchestra rallies round the previous material, and the instruments unite in an ecstatic, glittering climax marked Lento visionario. It is a transitory apotheosis where the music vanishes magically into higher spheres, as if it will continue there beyond our understanding.
"It is not unreasonable to compare Nørgård's Eighth Symphony with works from the same life-phase of the two great Nordic predecessors, Sibelius and Carl Nielsen. The lightness and playfulness typify Carl Nielsen's last symphony, no. 6, whose deceptive title 'Sinfonia semplice' covers a complex enigma. And for Nørgård writing an Eighth Symphony must also have been a pat on the shoulder to Sibelius, who had himself tried for years to write a Symphony no. 8, but only found peace when he threw the drafts on the fire. Nørgård's creativity took a much more fortunate form: he has written over 400 works, wonderfully represented here by the span from the dark Sinfonia austera to the Eighth Symphony's sparkling, dizzying spots in the air." (Jens Cornelius. From the Dacapo website. See here.)
Performers: Wiener Philharmoniker, Sakari Oramo
1. Symphony No. 1: I. Tempo Moderato
2. Symphony No. 1: II. Calmo Muito Affetuoso
3. Symphony No. 1: III. Allegro Impetuoso
4. Symphony No. 8: I. Tempo Giusto - Poco Allegro, Molto Distinto
5. Symphony No. 8: II. Adagio Molto
6. Symphony No. 8: III. Piu Mosso - Lento Visionario
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