Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas - Per Nørgård: Complete Works for String Orchestra (1999)

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Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas - Per Nørgård: Complete Works for String Orchestra (1999)

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This Finlandia disc, which sadly never got a US release and is hard to find there, surveys Per Nørgård's works for strings across a broad span of the Danish composer's output, from the 1950s to the 1990s. All of these express the perennial concerns of Nørgård's work: ambiguity, "infererence" and the development of the tonal tradition. Juha Kangas leads the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra.
The earliest works here date from Nørgård's Nordic period, a time when he was assimilating the examples of Jean Sibelius and his teacher Vagn Holmboe. These works maintained the conventional tonal tradition but were deeply concerned with organic development, and already Nørgård had completely mastered the art of orchestral writing. The finest example of this period is "Constellations" op. 22 for 12 solo strings or string orchestra (1958). The constellations of the title are metrically independent themes that retain their own idea, but are presented in shifting, kaleidoscopic juxtapositions. Nørgård sets this whirligig consistently in dance rhythms, and in the third movement approaches the old Baroque genre of the concerto grosso. "Constellations" is one of the most outstanding compositions of the Nordic "school" and will delight classical listeners of all stripes, even those with more conservative tastes.
The other early works are less individual than "Constellations", but still of a high standard. "Adagio" (1950-51) is Nørgård's earliest work for strings and had been rescued from the composer's pre-opus 1 juvenalia not long before this recording. "Metamorphosi" op. 4 (1954) is not a series of variations but in spite one single, oh-so-gradual transformation of the initial material. It is clearly inspired by Holmboe's work and well worth seeking out for fans of that older composer.
We then jump all forward almost four decades. "Fugitive Summer" (1992) employs a method of generating shimmering polytonal lines that Nørgård called "tone lakes", as any one of these series of notes can be revealed to have a larger or smaller series within it, like a Russian doll. There is considerable theory involved in this for those who like that sort of thing, but the effect is immediately ravishing on someone who just wants to listen. Split into three movements marked "Soft-voiced", "Listening" and "Playful", the piece moves from pathos and mystery through almost Romantic swells to a scherzo that collapses under its own weight.
The remaining pieces from the Nineties are tributes to earlier composers. "Four Observations - From an Infinite Rapport" (1995) nods to Bartók by casting the music with the help of the golden section, though only the fourth movement with its dance rhythms really sounds like the Hungarian master.
"Out of This World - Parting" (1994) was written in memory of Witold Lutoslawski and takes its title from a poem by Yunus Emre that Nørgård had earlier set for choir: "We are on the way out of this world, we send our greetings to those left behind…". Its mournful mood is created by mixing a F produced by natural harmonics with the "normal" (equal-tempered) F.
Nørgård called "Voyage into the Broken Screen" (1995) his hommage to Sibelius, but there's no Late Romanticism here. Nørgård creates a multiplicity of string lines offset from each other according to the golden section, with the resulting texture dizzingly complex, but if one attunes one's ear to the two cellos, one can hear the chaotic polyphony brought into a single melodic line. I love this and found myself regretting that it is only a 5-minute long, somewhat occasional piece.
I wouldn't quite recommend this to someone who has never heard Nørgård's music before. His symphonies (such as the Third and Sixth) recorded on Chandos, make a rather more traditional introduction. However, the music is very strong, and at three of the pieces are among his masterpieces, so if you consider yourself a Nørgård fan, by all means don't pass this obscure import up.

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Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Juha Kangas - Per Nørgård: Complete Works for String Orchestra (1999)

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