Mogens Wöldike and the Gramophone

Wöldike was quick to understand the potential of the gramophone. His first two records, made in 1928, were with his own Palestrina Choir. A 12 inch disc has Gabrieli’s twelve voice, polyphonic Benedictus and another polyphonic work by Palestrina; the motet Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontem. On the other disc (10 inch) there is Praetorius’s version of En rose så jeg Skyde and Kingo’s Hører til, I høje Himle.

We reach the mid 1930s before Wöldike really starts to assert himself as a conductor in recordings – naturally enough a choral conductor – with records of both the Madrigal Choir and the Copenhagen Boys’ Choir. The repertoire was centred around the late Renaissance and early Baroque. Best known include Buxtehude’s Cantatas Send hid din Engel (Send hither thine Angel) from 1936 and Was mich auf dieser Welt Betrübt (1940). But the most loved of them were the 1939 Morning Song and Oluf’s Ballade both from Gade’s Elverskud. In these can be heard The Copenhagen Boys’ Choir and the Young Artists’ Music Society orchestra with Aksel Schiøtz. This record became uniquely popular and sold a very large number of copies, remaining in the catalogue and in the shops until the mid-1950s and the end of 78 rpm era.

Another popular disc (1943) was of pieces by Mozart, Ave Verum Corpus with The Boys’ Choir, and Alleluia from Exsultate, Jubilate with Karin Munk as soloist. In that same year, just before Wöldike had to flee to Sweden with his wife who was of Jewish descent and so in danger of Nazi persecution in occupied Denmark, he recorded five pieces from Mogens Pederssøn’s collection Pratum spirituale from 1620 : Kyrie at Easter, Aleneste Gud I Himmerig, Ad te levavi , Med Konning David Klage and Nu bede vi den Helligånd .

After the war, as early as 1945, Wöldike quickly resumed recording work with Buxtehude’s Aperite mihi Portas and three years later with the Madrigal Choir came Gabrieli’s Jubilate Deo in eight parts and Schütz’s Selig sind die toten (six parts). He remade Gabrieli’s Benedictus with the Madrigal Choir and, with them also, there was Buxtehude’s Missa Brevis.

With a few exceptions like the Elverskud record, one must say that all this is what we, today, would call a narrow repertoire. But in the late 1940s the field began to expand. Wöldike had formed a chamber orchestra; the Royal Chapel Chamber Orchestra which, while playing only baroque music, included works that appealed to a wider audience. With it he began recording Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, and also Bach’s concertos with violin and oboe, and two violins as well as one of Corelli’s Concerti grossi.

Eventually it was difficult to maintain the Royal Chapel Chamber Orchestra and Wöldike began to record with the Radio Chamber Orchestra which was also founded at his instigation. Its members were chosen by him from the Radio Symphony Orchestra so that he could cultivate his ideal sound. With this ensemble he made records both in the 78 and LP eras. Before leaving the 78 era I must just mention Haydn’s Symphony No 91 which can be heard on this CD set, a pair of sinfonias by the Swedish Baroque composer Johan Roman, the Oboe Concerto in F minor of Telemann and a highly successful recording of Bach’s cantata Ich habe genug with the Swedish baritone Bernhard Sönnerstedt as soloist. Wöldike had met Sönnerstedt during his stay in Sweden during the war. The singer made several records in Denmark with the pianist Folmer Jensen probably because of this association.

When the LP became the main format for records, Wöldike continued with his series of the Brandenburg Concertos and also the Orchestral suites. Repertoire also began to appear from the classical period and then works by Carl Nielsen who was among his teachers and with whom he collaborated on several publications. Most famous of these recordings was the Nielsen Violin Concerto with Menuhin as soloist, but also Springtime in Funen was often played. Of the classical repertoire I must mention Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with the French clarinettist Louis Cahuzac and Haydn’s D major cello concerto; part of this CD release. The romantic repertoire was never central in his work but there is an excellent recording of J P E Hartmann’s First Symphony and the overture to his Yrsa in the Danish Music Anthology series.

Besides this long series of records, Wöldike made, here in Denmark, in the late 1940s a little-known series for a small American publisher, The Gramophone Shop. This publishing house specialised in Renaissance music and pre-Bach Baroque compositions. 35 78rpm records were produced and intended primarily for the US market. The main performers were Wöldike and the organist Finn Viderø. The records could be bought in Denmark but there was little interest in the repertoire and the marketing was so low- key that even those that might have been interested were rarely aware of the records’ existence.

Wöldike had a considerable international reputation and was given the opportunity to make with the Radio Chamber orchestra records for release abroad. All the Haydn LP recordings in this collection are in that category. Another example is the recording of Haydn’s Heiligmesse with the Copenhagen Boys’ Choir which was made in collaboration with the Haydn Society of Boston USA.

From the mid 1950s several large choral works with internationally-known soloists were recorded in Vienna. These were made by Vanguard records USA whose classical division was under the control of Seymour Solomon who met Wöldike on the recommendation of H C Robbins Landon. The largest project was Bach’s St Matthew Passion in stereo with Teresa Stich-Randall and Walter Berry among the soloists and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (known on the records as the ‘Vienna State Opera Orchestra’ for contractual reasons).] Stich Randall, Anton Dermota and Paul Schöffler were among the soloists in a 1955 recording of Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the same orchestra. The following year this team recorded Haydn’s last six big London Symphonies 99-104. In an interview in 1997 Seymour Solomon, in late retirement, remembered the records Wöldike made with his Company as among its finest achievements.

There is no discography of recordings either conducted by him or in which he participates and this little review does not claim to be exhaustive. It aims simply to demonstrate Wöldike’s music breadth and his ability to exploit his contacts both in Denmark and abroad. Another scene of his activities was England where he conducted and, through his contacts with Robert Layton, an authority on the musical life of Scandinavia and Finland and a radio producer, was heard on the BBC.

To summarise, without doubt Wöldike is the Danish conductor that has had by far the largest record production outside Denmark. No other Dane can remotely approach him in this respect.

Many of the older records are now less interesting than once they were but the Haydn recordings are stamped with a clarity and authority that speak to the listener of today and work just as freshly on him as they did sixty years ago. I still remember the radio broadcasts with Haydn symphonies – and perhaps especially the Schöpfungsmesse a highlight among the transmissions of the 1960ties. I believe that it was in his Haydn performances that Mogens Wöldike reached the pinnacle of his career as a conductor.

29/08/2011 Claus Byrith.