There was a time when a copy of Norwegian composer Christian Sinding's piano piece Rustles of Spring could be found in practically any piano bench one was likely to lift the lid on. It might well still be in the benches of particularly well-entrenched pianos, but were it left behind in an upright located in Sinding's native Norway, the bench would have been nailed shut. Sinding -- an arch-romantic who had a deep admiration for all things German -- had been lured into joining the Norwegian Nazi party some eight months before his death at 85, and to Norwegians who bore the brunt of the occupation that he did not live to see it proved fatal to his posthumous reputation. Pianist
Jerome Lowenthal has long held dear a fairly expansive attitude toward literature -- particularly of the romantic variety -- and his 1986 Arabesque recording of an all-Sinding program was still fairly well ahead of the curve. The attitude toward Sinding only began to thaw in Norway in the mid-'70s, particularly through the efforts of Norwegian pianist
Eva Knardahl and the growing popularity of Sinding's Violin Concerto. Bridge Records has done well to re-release
Lowenthal's Christian Sinding: Music for Piano as quite a bit of this composer's work has come along since the Arabesque album was recorded and not necessarily so much piano music as Sinding's violin music, songs, and some orchestral works.
Lowenthal's reading of Sinding's B minor Sonata is big, expansive, and lovingly expressed, whereas in shorter pieces he exercises a medium-width variety; a clipped and brightly rhythmic approach in character pieces and a warm lyricism and flexibility in the more capricious fare, such as the "big one," Rustles of Spring. The recording is quite loud, which is both a blessing and something of a curse; while it is not a sonic shrinking violet like so many classical recordings, it is so loud overall that finding a comfortable level to play it at may prove a challenge. The shorter pieces are generally more enjoyable than the long sonata; while
Lowenthal, in his notes, draws a comparison between it and the
Liszt B minor, the
Liszt has a bit more give and take, whereas the Sinding is largely thunder and bombast; one's ears hardly get a rest. Whereas his slightly elder countryman
Edvard Grieg is occasionally guilty of too much understatement, it appears overstatement was part of the challenge with Sinding, even in short pieces; it seems he didn't know how to hold back. Although this program is only LP-length at 48 minutes, it well might be just the right amount of Sinding piano music to collect together onto one disc, given his fairly heavy, highly decorous manner. Nevertheless, one has to admire
Lowenthal for his advocacy of this neglected work and the fine job he does in putting the best face on it.