Customer Reviews

Frederick Delius In Norway

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There are still unexplored Delius works out there, and for any Delian this disc is something of a must. I am less sure it will have much broader appeal - apart from the orchestral songs, which are marvelous by any standards - but it is still quite fascinating. In fact, all the music here was written by one Fritz Delius (he changed his name in 1902) and dates from the late 1880s. It is hence early, deeply romantic and none of it is quite as harmonically sophisticated as much of his later works. It is all deeply indebted to Grieg and his contemporaries, and Delius's own personal voice has not yet been fully formed even if the music does not really come across as derivative.

On the Mountains is a typical late romantic tone poem containing some fine melodies; it is richly scored and in many ways it is an example of a standard, second-rate but well-crafted symphonic poem of its time, but it is nevertheless very much worth hearing for its color and atmosphere. The songs were originally written for voice and piano (two of them were orchestrated by the composer himself, two by Beecham, one by R. Sondheimer, and two by Anthony Payne for this recording). They are in fact marvelous works, and although I have not heard the originals I cannot imagine that they capture the dreamy lushness and variegated moods as well as the orchestral versions. These are immensely memorable, beautiful works, and deserve to be much more widely available - they are without doubt worth the price of the disc by themselvs. Delius's orchestration of Grieg's Norwegian Bridal Procession is also excellently done, and although it is Grieg who provides the memorable qualities of the work it is eminently well worth coming to know in its orchestral garb.

The main bulk of this very generously filled disc is given over to the substantial melodrama Paa Vidderne for narrator and orchestra, which is a problem. Now, Delius's music here is lush and rich and atmospheric and contains plenty of good ideas and with just a little tightening-up of some of the stretches where the narrator has much to say, he could have turned this into a very worthwhile (though perhaps slightly repetitive) substantial tone poem. At least he should have attempted something like this, for there is no denying that the work is significantly compromised by the truly awful text. It is hard to imagine that this could have been penned by Ibsen - the symbolism is certainly characteristic of early Ibsen, and perhaps it loses something in the English translation, but as a modern listener one often finds oneself shaking one's head in disbelief that Delius lacked the taste and insight to drop this piece of absolute drivel. It unfortunately really ruins one's experience of Delius's music in several places.

Jan Lund's singing takes a little getting used to; his is an essentially light voice, with an extremely rapid vibrato. It may not be to everyone's taste, but I found that it added a certain appropriate, yellowed feeling of old-fashionedness and nostalgia to the music (further emphasized by the orchestra's deployment of portamento). The RLPO is definitely on good form, and they certainly do what they can to make Paa Vidderne a memorable musical experience. Bostock also finds plenty of atmosphere and charm and drama in On the Mountains; the presentation is immaculate (full notes and texts) and the sound overall good (if a little boomy and lacking in depth). In the end, then, this disc deserves a firm recommendation even though the melodrama is unfortunately going to be of interest to ardent Delius fans only.