Works by Harold Saeverud
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud
Label: Norwegian Composers
Magazine Review Date: 8/1987
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Catalogue Number: NC4913

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 9 |
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer Per Dreier, Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Rondo amoroso |
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer Laila Ward, Oboe Per Dreier, Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Galdreslåtten |
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer Per Dreier, Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Kjempeviseslåtten |
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer Per Dreier, Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Composer or Director: Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud
Label: Norwegian Composers
Magazine Review Date: 8/1987
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 51
Catalogue Number: NCD4913

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 9 |
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer Per Dreier, Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Rondo amoroso |
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer Laila Ward, Oboe Per Dreier, Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Galdreslåtten |
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer Per Dreier, Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Kjempeviseslåtten |
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer
Harald (Sigurd Johan) Saeverud, Composer Per Dreier, Conductor Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
Author: Robert Layton
Whether you warm to him or not, Saeverud's musical language is completely distinctive and his dry, laconic, yet kindly wit have gone to produce a figure unique in Norway: in terms of sheer personality he outstrips almost all his contemporaries. This issue features his Ninth Symphony, which comes from the mid 1960s, coupled with three better-known pieces. Kjempeviseslatten (''The Ballad of Revolt'') was originally the last of a set of piano pieces, Op. 22, which he extended and scored. (Slatter, incidentally, is a general term for instrumental folk-music in Norway, though Saeverud is adamant that these are not folk melodies but total products of his imagination.) It was prompted, he once told me, by his fury at the sight of Nazi barracks near Bergen, and pays tribute to the heroes of the Norwegian resistance. This music is dark, combative and inspiriting in character, and carries all before it with its insistent, unrelenting rhythm. Galdreslatten is also a wartime work, lighter in colouring but equally vital and full of humour and resource. This is, unless I am mistaken, its first recording since Malko's marvellous 78rpm account with the Danish Radio Orchestra (HMV DB10505—never generally available in the UK).
The Rondo amoroso is a simple piano piece that enjoys great popularity in Norway and ought to do so elsewhere, for it has a naive, artless charm. But, of course, the symphony is the most important work on the record. It is rugged, craggy, full of imagination and has greater symphonic coherence than either of the wartime symphonies I know (Nos. 6 and 7), even though Saeverud is often not a long-breathed composer. The passacaglia is more resourceful, the mood of the Andante more powerfully distilled and the waltz movement is splendidly tangy and characterful. There is, as always with Saeverud, a strong sense of the Norwegian landscape.
Per Dreier gets alert and responsive playing from the RPO and the recording is in the first flight (the engineer is Bob Auger). There is admirable clarity, a realistic perspective, and plenty of air round the instruments. Detail, I would add, is vividly defined.'
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