Conductor
Edward Gardner
ascended the podium of the
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
in 2015, and by the time this album appeared in 2024 and climbed onto classical best-seller charts, audiences must have begun to think of him almost as an honorary Norwegian. Consider the program here, which mixes the familiar
Symphonic Dances, Op. 64
, of
Grieg
with some quite uncommon works. The latter may be the major attractions; both the melodrama
Bergliot, Op. 42
, and the dramatic cantata
Before a Southern Convent, Op. 20
, had gone unrecorded since 2008 when this album appeared. Both works involve texts by playwright
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
.
Bergliot
is delightful, suggesting what
might have done if he had lived long enough to write film music, and one can't help but think that a performance of the spoken part with an English translation would propel it into the regular concert repertory. The
Symphonic Dances
are perfectly idiomatic, with strong rhythmic propulsion but not even a hint of self-conscious folkish gestures, although the pieces are based on Norwegian folk melodies. The
Bergen
musicians, aided along the way by a speaker and female singers, are firmly under
Gardner
's control, and this album is a must for
fans and, indeed, for lovers of nationalist music of any stripe. ~ James Manheim