Сcamerata Nordica

This CD features the strings of a conductorless Swedish chamber orchestra, Camerata Nordica, with the distinguished violinist Ulf Wallin sitting in the concertmaster's seat (and playing the solo violin part in the Adagio amoroso). They are capable of digging deeply into the strings in the dramatic sections but where they really shine are in the lyrical passages which they play with a silken sheen. The five works are more or less of a piece, all identifiably in Atterberg's post-Straussian high-Romantic style. The largest piece is the four movement 'Sinfonia per archi' ('Symphony for Strings') which is a recomposition of an earlier string quintet. In places it reminds me of Elgar's Serenade for Strings. I particularly like II, Allegro molto, with its insistent motto theme that modulates higher and higher as it unwinds.