...on Simax:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/source-of-light/hnum/9362093 (https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/source-of-light/hnum/9362093) (CD)
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8826950--otto-winter-hjelm-complete-symphonies (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8826950--otto-winter-hjelm-complete-symphonies) (Download)
Two rather attractive, fun symphonies - by the sound of the excerpts at Presto.
Thank you Alan! This is good news indeed. It was Winterhjelm's B minor symphony which was available on an NKF LP years ago, coupled with Tellefsen's 1st piano concerto. Whilst both Tellefsen's concertos were recorded now some time ago, but in the CD era, Winterhjelm's attractive symphonies have been overdue for similar attention!
Glad to have been the bearer of good tidings!
There are articles on both his symphonies at Dutch Wikipedia (the 2nd notes that the finale of no.2 had to be completed by Johan Kvandal) and manuscripts in the Norwegian national Library, I believe.
(I'm not positive. No.2 seems to be here (https://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/14d05b72e8461b6cc2bd07c236073529#0) but no.1 in B-flat major? - I'll have to do some more searching...)
Ah here it is, symfoni i B-dur composed 1861 - symphony no.1 in full score manuscript (https://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/061a577f9bbde5503b6eb5482a16b78e?index=13#0).
This is a welcome surprise! I have always enjoyed Winter-Hjelm's open-hearted, uncomplicated Second Symphony since I bought that NKF LP many years ago. It's not an important or sophisticated work, I suppose, but I've found it an enduring pleasure nonetheless. It'll be fascinating to hear No.1 after all these years, and maybe I'll now be able to retire my digital transfer of No.2.
Listening through a streaming service at the moment. First impressions are very good. I rate SIMAX recordings some of the very best around. Sound is superbly well balanced with wide-ranging sonics. Conductor/orchestra on top form as well. Some may pick bones with the compositions but there is nothing offensive here. Just good honest music. One for the list.
From the excerpts available the music seems most attractive - very melodic and nicely scored. I don't know these symphonies, but I am encouraged to explore them. And I agree that Simax recordings are usually very well produced.
Agreed! My copy's on order from jpc.
QuoteIt'll be fascinating to hear No.1 after all these years, and maybe I'll now be able to retire my digital transfer of No.2.
Same for me too, Mark! A very welcome issue.
What a thorougly unexpected but very welcome surprise. And another viking mythology-related release, too.
However, there's something strange going on. The scherzo of the 2nd Symphony (3rd mvt) is an entirely different piece of music in Harth-Bedoya than in the older Ingebretsen recording, and about half the length. Does anyone have an explanation?
I can't duplicate that, Ilja. In my digital copy of the Ingebretsen LP I tracked the 2nd and 3rd movements together, but the Scherzo lasts 2:56. In the new separately-tracked Harth-Bedoya CD, the Scherzo track lasts for 2:47 and, at first hearing, the music itself is identical, albeit at a sprightlier tempo.
Ilja: the manuscript of the 2nd symphony is in the link I provided above, so whichever recording you have that matches the score (the first link, which actually goes to the score and parts... here (https://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/14d05b72e8461b6cc2bd07c236073529#56) to modify - this edited link now goes to the first page of the Scherzo..) should be the right one...
the main theme of the 2nd symphony scherzo, in Violins I, is B B C# D EDC#B C# F# C#
D C# B C# D E F#
(see the manuscript score link above, again.) (followed in canon/imitation by 2nd violins, then cello...)
I hope that helps?
Seems that the last part of the 2nd movement got combined with the beginning of the third in my recording. So oops. I noticed that the end of the last movement is genuinely quite different. Maybe Winter-Hjelm's original vs. the version that Kvandal worked on?
Quotethe end of the last movement is genuinely quite different
I admit I didn't play to the end of the movement in either recording when comparing them. No doubt the reason for the difference is as you say.
To be brutally honest, I like the old Ingebretsen version more than this new one. It appears to make more sense musically and the playing is better, too. However, I can see how the better sonics of the new recording can flip that balance in its favor for those that care about recording quality more than me.
I totally agree, so feel lucky to have both and haven't retired my LP transfer as I thought I would. The new recording isn't bad, but the phrasing and tempi of the LP performance are more sympathetic to the music somehow. Or maybe I'm just so used to it after all these years.
By the way, No.1 dates from 1862-3 (it was revised in 1863); No.2 dates from 1862, but wasn't performed until 1867. The editions used are by Jørn Fossheim, of whom details are available here:
https://www.makriscompetition.com/fossheim
Pleasingly, No.1 is very much cut from the same cloth as the familiar No.2. Both are charming, colourful works with a definite Scandinavian atmosphere, although it's not as strongly evident as in Svendsen's symphonies for example.
I particularly liked W-H's use of brass and his rhythmic vitality . Schumann's a clear influence, but the overall accent is clearly personal. As someone who'd never heard these works before, I'm delighted to recommend this fine release.
I absolutely love that the Norwegian libraries have digitized pretty much absolutely everything they have in public domain of their classical composers. Sketches, fragments, parts, full scores, they have everything out there in good quality scans. Search for Winter-Hjelm, Schjelderup, Aspestrand and others, and you'll find them.
There is another manuscript of the 2nd: https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digimanus_172482 (https://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digimanus_172482)
jpc has deleted this recording from my shopping basket this morning. Presumably, there´s some delay................
It's probably a supply issue. The CD can be purchased direct from Simax for 139 kr (approx. £11.60, plus whatever they charge for postage):
https://grappa.no/en/albums/simax-classics/otto-winter-hjelm-complete-symphonies/ (https://grappa.no/en/albums/simax-classics/otto-winter-hjelm-complete-symphonies/)
Thanks for that information, Alan.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Thursday 08 October 2020, 12:16
It's probably a supply issue. The CD can be purchased direct from Simax
....and downloads are available from Presto, Amazon & Apple.
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8826950--otto-winter-hjelm-complete-symphonies (https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8826950--otto-winter-hjelm-complete-symphonies)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Winter-Hjelm-Complete-Symphonies-Norwegian-Orchestra/dp/B08JB5Q879/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Otto+Winter-Hjelm&qid=1602186282&s=music&sr=1-1 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Winter-Hjelm-Complete-Symphonies-Norwegian-Orchestra/dp/B08JB5Q879/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Otto+Winter-Hjelm&qid=1602186282&s=music&sr=1-1)
https://smile.amazon.com/Winter-Hjelm-Complete-Symphonies-Norwegian-Orchestra/dp/B08JB4TH9M/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=winter-hjelm&qid=1602186078&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr (https://smile.amazon.com/Winter-Hjelm-Complete-Symphonies-Norwegian-Orchestra/dp/B08JB4TH9M/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=winter-hjelm&qid=1602186078&s=music&sr=1-1-catcorr)
https://music.apple.com/us/album/otto-winter-hjelm-complete-symphonies/1532148976 (https://music.apple.com/us/album/otto-winter-hjelm-complete-symphonies/1532148976)
I hardly need to add (but I'll do anyhow) that it's on Spotify too.
My copy has just arrived from Norway. Not having acquired the old LP, this music came as a delightful surprise. An optimistic tonic in these dark times. I urge you to listen especially to the finale of the Second Symphony which could easily be encored in the concert halls. The kind of music I think Sullivan could have composed if he had been Norwegian.
QuoteThe kind of music I think Sullivan could have composed if he had been Norwegian.
Yes! And, of course, his Irish Symphony (first performed in 1866) was written around the same time. One might say that W-H's symphonies have more than a dash of Schumann, whereas the Sullivan was influenced by Mendelssohn - having said which, they both share the optimistic spirit you identified.