Svendsen: Symphony No.1 & 2
Mariss Jansons / Oslo Philharmonic (Warner)
(scroll down for English review)
楊遜斯執掌奧斯陸愛樂期間，在1980年代灌錄過挪威作曲家斯文森（1840-1911）的兩首交響曲。之前沒聽過這兩首作品，下次都不知會是幾時，當然是因為楊遜斯而聽。兩首樂曲分別在1867及1874年完成，用很簡單的標籤去比喻的話，就好像同時期柴可夫斯基頭三首交響曲那樣，很重視格式的正確，但要是旋律本身不夠好，就很易變得長氣。
《第一交響曲》（軌一至五）我覺得就是那樣，好像旋律很重要、所以要說三次那般。不過《第二交響曲》（軌六至十）至少在頭兩個樂章，前者的崇高氣慨、後者的浪漫激情，我看已經好過柴可夫斯基頭三首交響曲了，只不過最後兩個樂章無以為繼，又回到寫法穩健但旋律不吸引的境地。
A rarity in Mariss Jansons’ discography is this CD of Svendsen symphonies recorded during his tenure in Oslo. I couldn’t imagine myself trying out these symphonies if not for Jansons or it might be years when I’d listen to them again. Norwegian but trained in Germany, Svendsen wrote technically sound symphonies in the German mould, or maybe that’s the reason the early Tchaikovsky symphonies came to my mind.
The First Symphony (tracks 1-5) suffers from mediocre melodies that sound too repetitive if given the standard symphonic treatment. The noble first movement and the passionate second movement of the Second Symphony (tracks 6-10) are superior to early Tchaikovsky and mediocrity returns at the subsequent movements.