Colloquial Swedish Audio

Although Kurt Weill's principal legacy lies in music theatre works of both popular appeal and intellectual weight, he was equally at home in purely orchestral works as evidenced by his two symphonies. Written just over a decade apart, they reveal his chameleon-like ability to work with any range of style and form. The Symphonie in einem Satz (Symphony in one movement), completed when he was barely 21, adopts an expressionist idiom that shows intricate writing, dense counterpoint and quick shifts reminiscent of Schoenberg's First Chamber Symphony. Completed in France in 1934 after Weill had to flee Nazi Germany, the Fantaisie symphonique is filled with allusions to the 'sung ballet' The Seven Deadly Sins, composed at the same time.

For the second installment in his Mahler cycle for harmonia mundi, Daniel Harding revisits a symphony which clearly represents a turning point in the composer’s output. The years following Mahler’s early period (marked by Des Knaben Wunderhorn) saw the production of works of ever greater complexity and sardonicism, which show no trace of naïveté. Within a framework of utmost intricacy, the themes, musical gestures, and building blocks (for instance, the interval of a minor third which opens the Fifth Symphony’s famous Adagietto) trace a journey from darkness to light which culminates in the striking modernity of the finale.

BIS is justifiably proud of its audiophile reputation, and this disc offers ample evidence of the label's recording prowess. The same goes for the virtuosity of the Swedish Radio Choir and Orchestra. Although neither performance ranks as the best on disc, together these two great works and these solid, committed interpretations make a tremendously satisfying program–robust, intense, sensuous, and sonically stunning.

German by birth and trained in Mannheim by Franz Xaver Richter, Joseph Martin Kraus is often referred to as the ‘Swedish Mozart’ both on the grounds of his undoubted musical genius and his employment at the brilliant court of Gustav III in Stockholm. Kraus’s career as a composer was relatively brief - probably little more than 15 years - but his mature works have a complexity expressive intensity which is quite unique. His death in 1792, like that of Mozart’s the previous year, must be accounted one of the great musical tragedies of the period.

The first volume of the Naxos Kraus cycle was honored in 1999 with the prestigious Cannes Classical Award, edging out puissant competition from the major recording companies as well as other independent labels. Owning and having heard that release and this disc's other sibling. I can easily see why. In this release as in the others, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, guided by Petter Sundkvist's intuitive sense of line and pacing, is focused, accurate, and committed, resulting in emotionally charged readings, driven by burning passion. These sterling performances further unmask a composer whose musical thought and execution of it are clearly on a par with those of his better-known contemporaries.

BIS present a disc of works by the Japanese composer Mari Takano, composed between 2003 and 2009. The four duos and trios that share the title LigAlien are all results of the idea of what would it be like to implant ‘alien’ music into one of Ligeti’s works. Interspersing the four 'LigAliens' are two solo pieces, Jungibility for piano and Full Moon for violin and electronics, which also embrace a wealth of ideas both musical and otherwise from Duke Ellington, Omar Sosa and Stockhausen (Jungibility) and Björk, Pina Bausch and Miles Davis (Full Moon).

The playing and leadership are exceptional in every quarter. Petter Sundkvist never misses a trick when it comes to coaxing the right color at the appropriate moment and unerringly shaping the melodic contours of Kraus's scores. The performances brim with energy and commitment that would undoubtedly elude others who might attempt to tread here. Commended by energy, elegance, and charm, and crowned by a clear and bright aural perspective, this recording and its precursors are "must haves" for any lover of the Classical era.