Allan Petterson

It was in the fifties that the Swedish composer Allan Petterson (1911-1980) studied with René Leibowitz, Arthur Honegger, Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud in Paris, after which he returned to Sweden where he would carve a Solid reputation as a major figure in the country's music scene. Petterson, however, did not start very well: a blacksmith and an alcoholic father, the beginnings in life of banging on iron rods before the vocation (and a more understanding mother) Study violin and viola at the Conservatory. From there he was able to gain his existence as a performer at the Stockholm Orchestra, but the call for composition was too strong, hence his Parisian explorations.

Allan Pettersson composed his Ninth Symphony in 1970, two years after the Seventh had been given a triumphant première conducted by Antal Dorati. This had brought him greater recognition than ever before, but at the same time his health was deteriorating even further, and shortly after completing the Ninth Pettersson was hospitalized for a period of nine months. It is striking that he at such a time should have chosen to compose what is the longest of all his works – in the score Pettersson himself estimated the duration to ‘65–70 minutes’, and the first recording of the work actually lasted for more than 80 minutes.