Svendsen's first symphony impressed Grieg so much that he withdrew his own symphony. It's a fairly lightweight effort, but thoroughly professional in every way, and it shows a melodic gift that seems to me natural, genuine and spontaneous. I find nothing particularly Norwegian about it, which is not surprising as Svendsen had been trained in Leipzig. The second is much more attention-catching, with greater distinctiveness in both the themes and the scoring. This time there does seem to be a Norwegian flavour in the intermezzo, at least as I would understand 'Norwegian' from Grieg. The liner-note claims to detect some influence of Wagner in it, but frankly I doubt that. Like the earlier work, it is easy listening in a major key, cheerful and outgoing in expression for the most part but with a greater sense of depth in its first movement. Neither piece makes any great demands on the listener, and both make a thoroughly welcome change from the fa...