ELSE BREMS - Naxos Music Library

The Concert Singen
From the beginning Else Brems was among the tavourites
of Radio Denmmk. Her voice was exceptionally well
suited to this medium, whateverthe genre.At the populil
concerts in the "New Theatre". for many years the
domicile ofthe radio orchestra, to-day part ofThe Royal
Theatre, she often sang in operettas, and at the impoftant
classical concerts. especially the "Thursday night''
concerts, she was a regulil guest perfomer In 1942 EIse
Brems sang Ravel's S hd hdrazade with Emest Ansemet
on the podium. Later. she herself told how uneasy
Ansermet had felt that a Danish singer had been chosen
for these songs which are so closely interlocked with
the French language. Ansermet, who was a heavy
smoker, was mollified by a couple of packets of
cigarettes, difficult to come by in a period of war and
rationing. With her usual modesty, Else Brems did not
reveal what he said when he had heard her: but the
performance was a huge success. "How exquisitely her
dark, soulful voice matched these songs; how sugge
stive of mellow, tropical colours with a hint of temperament
underlying the slow rhythm. It was marvellous",
wrote the music critic Kai Flor. She sang the
Shdhdrazade songs again in 1945 with the Radio
Symphony Orchestra and ErikTuxen, and in 1947 with
the Russim-Norwegian conductorlssay Dobrowen.The
two songs recorded here from a private recording are
probably from this pefomance (I,14&15). In 1953 she
was awarded the distinguished Ingenio et Arti medal,
and the very next day she was the soloist at a radio
concert conducted by Paul Klecki in Brahms's A/to
Rhapsody. She sang "with a moving expressiveness,
illuminating every detail ofthe work" (I.I6).
Else Brems was a frequent guest soloist in the other
Scandinavian countries, as well as in Danish provincial
towns, and in the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.
The Liedsinger.
Throughout her career Else Brems adhered to the pattem
set at her d6but in 1928: classical Italim and French
arias, German lieder, mainly Schubert and Brahms,
French songs, especially by Debussy, Faur6, and Ravel,
and Danish romances by Peter Heise and PE.Lange-
Miiller.
Singers normally use the l8th-century Italian
canzonetta for their warm-up only, but to Else Brems
these meant much more. Indeed. she often used them
as the principal items in her progrmme at orchestral
concerts. As a representative of this genre, we have
included here an old French aria, "L'Amour de moi",
as a perfect example of her beautiful and carefully
worked out phrasing (II,8). Anders Brems loved the
German Lied, Schubert and Brahms in particular, and
this love he transmitted to his daughter. Lied,lovers
will krow how difficult the interpretation ofSchubert's
songs is. They demand a sympathetic naturalness in
voica and expression difficult to master by myone but
an artist of EIse Brems's calibre. In 1955 she did her
first and only LP-record with exclusively Brahms and
Schubert songs. From this award-winning record is
included here the "Liebesbotschaft" (II, t). "Der
Lindenbaum" and 'Die Forelle" are both from a private
recording of a radio transmission from about l950
(II,2&3), as are also two songs by Brahms (II,4&5),
and two by Grieg (II.6&7).
One of the results of her sojoums in Paris was her
mastery of the French language and singing style. She
contrnued her studies with the internationally
recognized, Danish-born Povla Frijsh who was
renowned for her interpretations ofFrench vocal music.
Else Brems often included French songs in her lied
programmes, also when she toured the Danish
provincial towns, and in her radio perfomances. Sadly.
in spite ofthis, we only possess recordings of the three