It is marvellous to have Hymnus amoris and Sleep back in circulation, and in brand-new, sumptuous Chandos sound, too. But as it turns out the welcome has to be somewhat muted, and there is good reason to renew pleas to EMI for a reissue of their 1977 Mogens Woldike recordings. As I mentioned in ''The Gramophone Collection'' on Nielsen last June—page 37, if they could couple this with Aksel Schiotz in the solo songs they really would have a winner!
Springtime in Funen is of course more familiar—anyone who tunes in regularly to BBC Radio 3 early in the morning must have heard it several times in recent years. In this idyllic counterpart to the Fifth Symphony (whose composition it interrupted) the limitations of the new recording are most strikingly revealed. Leif Segerstam is simply too uptight a conductor for Nielsen. He is constantly pushing forward, either impatient with the charm of the music or afraid that it will not get across unless projected with unremitting intensity. This transmits to the choir, who never sing softly, not even in the male chorus representing the Old Folk, and it is emphasized by the recorded balance which places the solo voices too far forward. The tenor's rendition of ''Den milde Dag'', one of the loveliest songs in the Danish language, is under the note and should have been retaken. Clearly then, the performance conducted by Tamas Veto on Unicorn-Kanchana is in every way preferable.
Hymnus amoris is similarly marred by Segerstam's overbearing intensity. The very opening is lovely, with some beautifully turned pastoral oboe playing; but the boys' choir is too intense right from the start, the tenor adopts an all-purpose hectoring tone and the male solos from around 15'35'' are unpleasantly bulbous. There is a strong element of Verdian melodrama both here and in Sleep (the works date from 1896 and 1903–04, respectively) and their romantic literalism can sound naive if overplayed. The later cantata goes reasonably well, but I doubt whether anyone who knows Woldike's accounts will find Segerstam's comparable.
Having said that, this is a well-filled disc, and the Motets are well sung, with a touch of inward- ness that eludes the Enevold/BIS version. The programme itself is most welcome. I only wish the performances weren't so determined to make their mark.'