It was the appearance of Johan Svendsen’s First Symphony in 1867 that convinced fellow Norwegian Edvard Grieg to suppress his own first effort in the medium. Grieg was right. Svendsen’s First is a remarkable achievement for its day, a superbly crafted work conservative in style but with a real breath of fresh Nordic air blowing through its four movements. Svendsen’s only problem is that he never made any further creative progress, as the Second Symphony proves. It’s just as appealing as the First, but two is surely enough. Actually there was a Third Symphony, apparently tossed into the fire by the composer’s wife during a marital spat, but unlike such similar instances as the lost Eighth Symphony of Sibelius, it’s kind of hard to argue that this no doubt calamitous personal event also was a major blow to Western culture. Be that as it may, this disc offers fine performances of youthful, attractive music at an irresistible price.
