The Launy Grøndahl Legacy, Volume 11
Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Chapel Copenhagen, Danish Radio Madrigal Choir, Soloists, Olympia Orchestra
rec. 1923-1956, Copenhagen
No texts
Danacord DACOCD891 [57 + 60]

No sooner have we said farewell to the last in Danacord’s long and invigorating Thomas Jensen series than we have to do the same for Launy Grøndahl. The Grøndahl sequence is shorter – eleven volumes – but it has been chockful of broadcasts and little-known studio recordings that have enriched still further our appreciation of the conductor. As ever, the inducement of the twofer being priced ‘as for one’ can’t be overlooked.

The main work here is Heinrich Sutermeister’s 1936, 47-minute radio opera The Black Spider and the set ends with a sequence of rare recordings Grøndahl made in 1923 for Pathé when he conducted the restaurant band called the Olympia Orchestra. In between there is the usual enticing mix of broadcast and commercial material.

Sutermeister’s work was commissioned by Berne Radio in 1935 and given its broadcast première the following year. It sets a short story by the Swiss writer Jeremias Gotthelf which relates a tale at a time of plague in which a girl bargains with the Devil with predictably catastrophic consequences for her, as, after thwarting him, she’s turned into the titular Black Spider and killed. This radio opera, which was later performed on television, shows in places the influence of the composer’s teacher, Carl Orff, most notably in the opening choral scene with its antique style and density of sound. Orchestration is deft but sparing and there are pert leitmotifs for the four characters – brassy fanfares, romantic strings, and the conjunction of trombone and harmonium are some of them. Each of the singers has a defined sense of characterisation, pushed to caricature in places – the Devil is nastily-voiced by Thyge Thygesen, Christine is tremulous and girlish, the mother, a role taken by Kate Møller, is consoling, whilst the Priest (Georg Leicht) is steady and suitably pious. Each scene is brisk, the action moves swiftly, and there are dancing motifs, pivotal choral scenes as well as ones of anticipated Devilish triumph and more. For me, the most impressive writing comes in the exchanges between Christine and the Mother – extreme delicacy of string writing and affecting lyricism.

This was one of the first radio opera performances on Danish Radio, broadcast in September 1953, and is splendidly realised by all concerned. There’s a tiny blemish at the start of the eighth track but it passes so rapidly that you barely notice. The remainder of the first CD is given over to the two Danish National Anthems, performed twice each on HMV 78s.

CD 2 contains some fine things. There’s a Danish Tono recording from 1950 of Poul Schierbeck’s overture to Fête galante, a real charmer full of old school cadences and dance writing. Emil Hartmann is represented by Dyveke, genial instrumental music to a history play, and Niels Gade by the two surviving scenes from a 1949 broadcast of Elverskud, a choral ballad with brief roles for three singers – here the excellent trio of Ingeborg Steffensen, Edith Oldrup and, once again, Thyge Thygesen. There’s a little damage to what I presume are acetates in the finale but the Mendelssohn-like writing is a delight. Nielsen’s Dance of the Cockerels comes from a commercial 78 made for HMV in 1950.

The acoustic 1923 sequence is by a small restaurant-styled band geared for dancing and serving up nutritious amounts of post-War European approximations of American dance music, Marches and Ragtime. The sound is forward and good for the time and so you’ll hear the woodblocks – perhaps a little more than you’d want to – though remember that no one at the time would expect you to play these discs consecutively. That’s a privilege granted by the LP and CD. As a small aside you’ll hear the pioneer of the saxophone in Denmark, Marno Sørensen. These pieces offer a charming, light-hearted look at the eminent conductor’s early years.    

When two series end in such close proximity one inevitably wonders whether or not Danacord will inaugurate a new historical marque. I very much hope so but then a lot of work is necessary – archive-trawling, tape remastering and restoration, as well as the question of artists’ rights – and it’s not my label. Whatever happens, salutations, as ever, go to Martin Granau and Peter Qunatrill for their joint notes, Claus Byrith for the transfers and executive producer, Jesper Buhl.

Jonathan Woolf

Contents
CD 1
Heinrich Sutermeister (1910-1995)
The Black Spider (Die schwarze Spinne) (1936)
Christine (The Black Spider) – Lilian Weber-Hansen
The Mother – Kate Møller
The Devil – Thyge Thygesen
The Priest – Georg Leicht
A Male Voice – Holger Nørgaard
A Female Voice – Ingeborg Thomasen
Danish Radio Choir, Orchestra of the Royal Chapel, Copenhagen
Live broadcast, 23 September 1953
Ditlev Ludvig Rogert (1742-1813)
’Kong Christian stod ved højen Mast’
Hans Ernst Krøyer (1798-1879)
’Der er et yndigt land’
Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra
HMV studio recordings, 1951
Ditlev Ludvig Rogert (1742-1813)
The Danish Royal Anthem
Hans Ernst Krøyer (1798-1879)
The Danish Royal Anthem
Danish Radio Madrigal Choir
HMV studio recordings 1951

CD 2
Poul Schierbeck
Fête galante, Op.25; Overture (1930)
Tono studio recording 1950
Emil Hartmann (1836-1898)
Dyveke, Op. 45 (1890)
Live broadcast, 1956
Niels W. Gade (1817-1890)
Elverskud (1854)
The Mother – Ingeborg Steffensen
Elf King’s Daughter – Edith Oldrup
Herr Oluf – Thyge Thygesen
Live broadcast January 1949
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)
Maskarade; Hanedans (1906)
HMV studio recording 1950
Edvard Brink (1883-1970)
Hvis lille pige er du
Léon Bonnard (Jacob Gade) (1879-1963)
Maggidudi (1923)
Emil Reesen (1887-1964)
Vinens Gudinde
Lauritz Howalt (1884-1953)
Jeg kan ikke la’ være
Harald De Bozi (1887-1971)
Nicolas
Hugo Hirsch (1884-1961)
To ad gangen
Jeg savner kun en lille kær veninde
Edvard Brink
En Københavner-Pige med Godda’
Tommelfinger i øjet
Til næste sommer
Friedrich Hollaender (1896-1976)
Liliput
Olympia Orchestra
Pathé Studio recordings, 1923