Search - Carl August Nielsen, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra :: Nielsen: Aladdin (Premiere Recording) - Mette Ejsing / Guido Paevatalu / The Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra & Chamber Choir / Gennady Rozhdestvensky

Yes!

David A. Hollingsworth | Washington, DC USA | 12/09/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Carl August Nielsen (1865-1931) was already an experienced musician for the theatrical stage, both as a conductor at the Copenhagen Royal Theater from 1908-1914 and as a composer of two operas "Saul and David" of 1904 and Maskarade of 1906 as well as 10 incidental scores to his credit. "Aladin" would be his 11th incidental score.Nielsen's difficult period at the Copenhagen Royal Theater compelled him to refuse the Theater's commission for the composition for Aladdin. However, Nielsen was finally convinced to compose the score, thanks to the actor and producer Johannes Poulsen, and by the Summer of 1918, the score for "Aladdin" was completed in time for rehearsals.Like Tchaikovsky, Massenet, Mussorgsky, Nielsen was a psychologically oriented of a composer. His talent for drama and psychological expression allowed him to paint, with great effectiveness, the pictures of the expression of characters (commonly known as musical gestures). Now you see why he was the right man for this work? The premiere of the work (February 15th, 1919) was abridged, with much of the musical numbers (there are 31) deleted and their order changed. Nielsen protested the performance publicly and never witness his music performed according to his conceptions. The popular Aladin Suite, as so arranged and published by 1940, consist of 7 of the 31 numbers (mostly from Act III).Gennady Rozhdestvensky (a giant musical pioneer who gave us the first complete recording of Glazunov's "Tsar Iudeyskiy" two years earlier, in 1991) gave altogether a well prepared and a exciting performance of the work. The featured ensembles were the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Danish National Radio Chamber Choir. The ensembles were responsive and authoritative with no absence of drama the work truly demands. Rozhdestvensky's tempo were (and still are) more spacious and grandeur in his later years than earlier in his career. However, his managed the keep the emsemble under almost absolute refinement and was able to bring out the excitement from the orchestra. The soloists, Mette Ejsing (alto) and Guido Paevatalu (baritone) sang with warmth, beauty, and authority and the overall Chandos recording gave the sound it natural state of liveliness. Well done.Let the curiousity consume you."