Nielsen: Aladdin Suite; Pan and Syrinx; other orchestral works.

Nielsen: Aladdin Suite; Pan and Syrinx; other orchestral works. Niklas Witten, South Jutland Symphony Orchestra. Naxos 8.557164.

One is not apt to think much beyond Danish composer Carl Nielsen's symphonies when considering the man's output, and it hasn't helped that his shorter orchestral works are so seldom recorded. I recall an old EMI Greensleeve LP with Herbert Blomstedt that I used to own, and I believe there is currently a DG recording with Jarvi; but it isn't much, so this budget-priced Naxos disc fills a much-needed hole in repertory.

There are six separate selections on the album, all of them essentially brief tone poems. Things begin with the Aladdin Suite, seven selections the composer took from his incidental theater music. Don't expect anything so remarkable as Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, but do expect to be entertained by some lavish orchestrations, several inventive dances, and one unique composition, "The Marketplace in Ispahan," in which the composer tries to imitate the varied sounds of a bazaar coming from all directions. I couldn't help wondering while I was listening to it how it might be recorded in surround sound.

Next are Cupid and the Poet, Saga-Dream, the Helios Overture, and two segments from the opera Maskarade, the Overture and the Prelude to Act II. These pieces amply demonstrate Nielsen's ability to evoke atmosphere and mood. The most intriguing of all the little works, though, is the concluding one, Pan and Syrinx. It's a pastoral piece, mostly sweet and relaxed, becoming more vivacious as it goes along, then fading off into silence. It's quite affecting, really.

Evaluating a disc's sound can always be problematic. My initial reaction upon hearing the disc's opening "Festival March" from Aladdin was that the sonics were too thick and heavy. But I had just finished listening to over an hour of a Karajan recording from the fifties that was rather thin and bright. After an hour with the Nielsen disc, its sound seemed just right to me, very realistic (if still a touch clouded). The Pan and Syrinx music appeared especially felicitous, with an excellent sense of orchestral depth. For the few bucks one might expend on this disc, one can afford to experiment with the sound and music.