It is good to see these inspired symphonies coming back into their own: they are a further corrective to the popular view that Norwegian music begins and ends with Grieg. Neeme Jarvi's excellent BIS accounts are only available on CD and the Oslo Philharmonic recordings on Norsk Kulturrad / Conifer by Miltiades Caridies and the late Oivin Fjeldstad are still only on LP. This newcomer has the advantage of being available in all three formats. Moreover, since the mid 1970s when the earlier recordings were made, the Oslo Philharmonic have developed into an orchestra of international standing.
Every time I hear the D major Symphony, it is with amazement at its freshness, polish and inventive resource. A student work, written while Svendsen was still at Leipzig, it has a natural feeling for form that Grieg never possessed and as is well known, when he first heard it in 1867, Grieg loudly sang its praises and paid Svendsen an indirect compliment by withdrawing his own youthful Symphony of 1865. Of course the two were complementary in many ways: Grieg was a miniaturist who flourished in such genres as the song and the piano and had little feeling for the orchestra: Svendsen did not involve himself in the folksong movement to anywhere near the same extent and thought naturally in symphonic terms. He was a masterly orchestrator too. It is sad that he lost the creative urge and channelled more and more of his energies into his conducting career.
Only a year ago I welcomed Jarvi's BIS recording of the symphonies with the Gothenburg orchestra and those who have invested in those performances should, I think, be happy with them. They are very well recorded and moreover offer a bonus in the form of a transcription for strings of two Swedish folk-melodies, one of which is now the Swedish national song, Du gamla du fria. But the claims of the newcomer are also strong. They have much the same enthusiasm and relish and there is not much to choose between the two recordings: I slightly prefer the Gothenburg acoustic. However, the Oslo orchestral playing is superior and distinguished by first-rate ensemble alert rhythms and keenly articulated phrasing. Were I coming to this repertoire afresh, the new version would have to be a first choice.RL