Easygoing Danes

The best orchestra in Denmark--the Danish National--arrived in the U.S. a fortnight ago for the first transatlantic tour in its history. "We are a bit concerned, coming here," said Piccolo Player Johan Bentzon, who is also orchestra president. "You have the most excellent orchestras in the world."

The Danes need not have been apprehensive. In Manhattan last week they played a program of Stravinsky, Dvorak, Grieg and Danish Composer Carl Nielsen, and thoroughly captivated a big audience in Carnegie Hall. The Danes were more relaxed and easygoing (and a bit less precise) than most top U.S. orchestras. They bowed their strings lightly, making bright, pure threads of sound. The brasses were not particularly powerful, but they sounded as mellow as if the instruments were made of soft copper. The horns--prone in any orchestra to skid off their notes--were as secure as a pipe organ.

The Danes believe they have a special reason to be relaxed. As the official orchestra of the Danish State Radio, they play at least five concerts a week, 46 weeks a year, and they never have to worry about deficits. Moreover, the orchestra members (85 men and seven women) hold what amount to permanent appointments.

Explains Conductor Eric Tuxen: "We are safe. We know we have our jobs and our orchestra as long as we want them. It makes for enjoyment of music. Here, where everyone knows that unless he plays absolutely up to the mark every minute he may be out of a job, he may play better, but there is more tension." Should a Danish player get "too relaxed," Orchestra President Bentzon "speaks like an older brother." By tradition, an aging player moves back to a rear desk, and eventually out (with a state pension) of his own accord.

The system seems to have helped rather than harmed the 27-year-old orchestra. In recent years it has outplayed such older groups as the Royal Symphony Orchestra and the Aarhus Town Symphony. Before its members fly back to Copenhagen late next month, they will show off their easygoing style in 18 states, as far south as New Orleans, as far north as Milwaukee.

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