The Danish composer Victor Emanuel Bendix (1851-1926) belongs to the vast cohort of Scandinavian post-romantic composers who came under the influence of Gade, Grieg, Dvorak, and Tchaikovsky. His music sounds especially close to the latter, as proven by the Second Symphony, subtitled “Sounds of Summer from South Russia”, in its expert use of orchestral colorings and attractive tunes. The other symphony “with title”, the majestic first, “Mountain Climbing”, similarly echoes the composer’s love for nature, folk music, and outdoor life. At the turn of the century, Bendix was involved in a major social scandal, and this probably explains his progressive disappearance from the Danish musical scene–a situation that persists even after his death.
Bendix’s four symphonies, composed between 1882 and 1906, all seem to be well worth listening to–that is, if they were better played and recorded than on this world premiere release. The Omsk Philharmonic Orchestra plays with enough amateurism and technical approximation to spoil the pleasure of the discovery, while the murky sonics drown most details in a bathtub-like reverberation. Strings are constantly and painfully out of tune (try the Prestissimo of the 2nd Symphony and suffer), ensemble playing is sloppy beyond belief, and balance is almost always out of control, annihilating the composer’s original instrumental combinations. This is a first class burial, not a resurrection. Bendix’s generous music deserves a second chance.
