If you have ever wondered why Nielsen's music inspires such devotion among his followers, this record offers perhaps an even better explanation than the high-powered recent issues of his symphonies. Springtime in Funen was a commission from the Association of Danish Choral Societies and the Aladdin suite is taken from incidental music for Oehlenschlager's play; they were composed in the aftermath of the Fifth and Fourth Symphonies respectively. Yet neither needs any apologies on account of its origins as 'occasional music' and neither is overshadowed by those symphonic masterpieces. Rather, the symphonies seem to have cleared the air and allowed the gentler, more relaxed side of Nielsen's character to emerge with a special purity. This is an unmistakable brand of human sympathy and a sense of wonder, of a kind tapped by Berlioz, Dvorak, Richard Strauss and Janacek in their very different ways, and as with them these qualities are allied to boundless reserves of energy.
All this has been said before, and the Nielsen-lover will only need to know that these are marvellous performances, excellently recorded. The Hungarian-born Tamas Veto has that crucial instinct for natural pacing which so often eludes non-Danish conductors in Nielsen; the Odense orchestra produce a full-blooded and thoroughly idiomatic sound, with a characteristically Danish raw quality at times which one accepts as part of the spontaneity and relish of the playing.
In Springtime in Funen Inga Nielsen is outstanding, and though the tenor and bass are marginally less characterful than Kurt Westi and Ib Hansen on the long-deleted Philips recording (SAL3620, 7/67—nla) they too sing with much feeling. The tenderness of the tenor's strophic song sums up the unobtrusive genius of the work—it is a discovery as simple and miraculous as the sun on your face on a spring morning. Both adult and children's choruses are superb.
If only there was a singable English translation (and perhaps if the very end were not quite so abrupt), Springtime in Funen would surely be a huge success in this country. Likewise the Aladdin suite, given the right kind of advocacy, might well enjoy something like the popularity of Peer Gynt. Every one of its seven movements is a winner, catchy and memorable, and the range of mood is just as wide—from the enchanted poise of ''Aladdin's Dream'' (not ''Dance'', as on the sleeve), through the wild abandon of the ''Negros' Dance'', to the four orchestras (yes!) of ''The Market in Ispahan''. There is already a first-rate modern recording by Myung-Whun Chung and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra on BIS. The Odense performance is distinctly more spacious, and though Chung makes some telling points, the music sounds hard-pressed when compared with Tamas Veto's unforced delivery. This record is simply a joy from start to finish, and if you think I am exaggerating, all I can say is—try it.'