Per Nørgard: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
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Composer: Per NorgardConductor: Leif Segerstam
Orchestra: Danmarks Radiosymfoniorkester
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1997-05-20
Music Label: Chandos
Soundtracks:
- Symphony No. 4: Indian Rose Garden
- Symphony No. 4: Chinese Witch's Lake
- Symphony No. 5: Allegro --
- Symphony No. 5: Allegro feroce --
- Symphony No. 5: Andante --
- Symphony No. 5: Allegro feroce
Music reviews of Per Nørgard: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5
Music Review: A haunting "Wolfli-period" work along with the composer's most puzzling symphony
Rating: 4 Stars
This Chandos disc contains performances of the fourth and fifth symphonies by contemporary Danish composer Per Norgard, performed by the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leif Segerstam. "Symphony No. 4" is one of Norgard's most accessible works, eerie though it is, while "Symphony No. 5" is undoubtedly the most enigmatic of his myriad works to date.
"Symphony No. 4: Indian Rose Garden and Chinese Witch's Lake" (1981) is based on the art of Adolf Wolfli, a madman locked up in a Bern asylum from 1896 who produced hundreds of remarkable drawings in a superbly original style. Norgard's embarking on a Wolfli-inspired period in 1979 is seen as such a profound break from his writing up to that point that in order to really put the Fourth in perspective one first has to understand what came before.
In the 1970s Norgard's music was based on the "infinity series", a method of serializing melody that created fractal-like self-similarity between all instrumental lines. I'll take the the second movement of his "Voyage into the Golden Screen" as an example: Norgard writes the entirety with the infinity series: a given melody is played by the flutes in what can be called "normal time", while the oboes play every fourth note, the trumpets every 64th note, and tubular bells, trombones, and piano ever 256th note. As a result, the very same music can be heard at many different speeds depending on which orchestral group one concentrates on, and if one listens to the music as a whole one hears a blissful succession of notes that is predictable enough to be easily accessible yet contains many surprises. The unity of all elements also presented a strong spiritual feeling for this metaphysically-inclined composer.
In "Symphony No. 4", the writing has changed in a slight way that has profound consequences: there is repetition of elements, and several little motifs are heard again and again, a good reflection of the psychotic art Norgard took as a model. However, the repetition is limited to one plane, there is no overarching, slower form. With this breaking of the unity of the whole, Norgard has gone from cosmic oneness to fearful isolation, loneliness, torment, and despair. In terms of sound, the warm, fuzzy cloud of the infinity series gives way to cold, crystalline blocks of sound. The first movement, "Indian Rose Garden" is slow and meditative, and marked by a motif based on the call of the European robin which gives rise to other motifs, hides, and then appears again in full. Among the idyllic forest of orchestration, there is an unmistakable howl of pain here and there. "Chinese Witch's Lake", the second movement, breaks in violently without a pause, and is an expression of rage and catastrophe. The falling apart of the natural order is symbolised by the incoherent mixing of quotations from popular melodies, Nielsen, and other Norgard works. The Fourth is powerful stuff, and contains an wealth of new ideas to explore with each listening. The orgiastic Third is often considered Norgard's finest symphony, and justly so, but I find this hommage to the tortured soul of Wolfli to be thought-provoking and poignant enough to merit more attention that it is has received.
The "Symphony No. 5" (1986-1990, rev. 1992) is already somewhat infamous among Norgard fans. The listener at once notices that it presents brand-new concepts which up until that point had not preoccupied the composer, such as large orchestral arpeggios, tone lakes, and massive orchestral movements that bring the sound up so high it seems to dissipate like smoke. Interference tones are exploited as well, as when one of the percussionists blows through a pair of dog-whistles, producing a tone that would be inaudible on its own. There's also a significant use of quotation, for the symphony refers to the composer's third and first symphonies, and at one point the popular tune "Jingle Bells" shows up. However, while Norgard is certainly looking back here, there's no real synthesis of all his various techniques to date. Such a fusion he succeeded in making in the sixth symphony.
So the listener is immediately dazzled by the technical inventiveness and striking colour of the piece, but on hearing the form as a whole bafflement sets in. What exactly is he doing here? A common venture is that this is a symphony about writing a symphony. It consists of a series of bold musical propositions that leap out, only to collapse into shocking silences as if they form a musical dead-end. All in all, I'm left scratching my head. I like this piece, it sounds wonderful, but I just don't get it at all.
The fifth certainly should be the last symphony the Norgard fan encounters, as it assumes prior knowledge of the "Sinfonia Austera" and the Symphony No. 3, which latter work is his masterpiece and makes for an ideal introduction to the composer. Still, both the 4th and the 5th are interesting pieces, and collecting all of Norgard's symphonies are highly recommended.
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