Johannes Gustavsson Klami & Englund Violin Concertos

This album includes a large portion of the orchestral works written by Ludvig Norman (1831-1885), 'The Swedish Brahms', including his masterpiece work, Symphony No. 3, performed by the Oulu Symphony Orchestra under Johannes Gustavsson. Ludvig Norman was a highly fascinating artist who inspired a generation of Swedish composers and was widely respected, although his 3rdSymphony was premièred only after the composer's death. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Ludvig Norman went at the age of to study at the famous Leipzig Conservatory, where his teachers included Ignaz Moscheles (piano) and Julius Rietz (composition). Having returned to Stockholm as a professional musician and composer deeply inspired by his impressions of musical life in Leipzig.

This album includes a large portion of the orchestral works written by Ludvig Norman (1831–1885), ‘The Swedish Brahms’, including his masterpiece work, Symphony No. 3, performed by the Oulu Symphony Orchestra under Johannes Gustavsson. Ludvig Norman was a highly fascinating artist who inspired a generation of Swedish composers and was widely respected, although his 3rd Symphony was premièred only after the composer’s death.

Born into a working-class family, Anders Eliasson’s earliest musical experiences originated from within himself: ‘they were my own singing, and tunes I heard on the radio’. At the age of nine he began to play the trumpet, and soon after he became the leader of a jazz band for which he wrote arrangements. Aged 14, he found a local organist to teach him harmony and counterpoint, and at 16 he left his hometown for Stockholm to study privately.

Johannes’ debut CD focuses on the music of one of the most celebrated orchestras at Bach’s time: the Dresden court orchestra. No other orchestra was as cosmopolitan in terms of its makeup, as familiar with all the current styles, or as skilled in dealing with difficult scores as the group led by Johann Georg Pisendel. He was also responsible for making the Dresden music archive into one of the most extensive in Europe. Fortunately the so-called Schrank II collection – preserved today in the Saxon State Library – with its inexhaustible trove of acoustical treasures survived the turmoil of a number of devastating wars.

Ms. Mutter makes the violin sing in this fine collection of violin concertos recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic. Ms. Mutter was discovered by Herbert von Karajan at age 13, declared by him as "the greatest musical prodigy since the young Menuhin" and played with the Berlin Philharmonic as a teenager. The two Mozart concertos were recorded when she was only 15. The other concertos were recorded before she was twenty years old. My favorite is the Mendelssohn concerto. Ms. Mutter plays its haunting theme with elegance,flair and fire. Her passion and precision are evident through the difficult passages. Married to conductor Andre Previn, who wrote a violin concerto for her, Ms. Mutter never fails to intrigue her audience, making her vioin sing with colorful, soulful voices.

In this era of homogenized classical collections, it is great to see Testament rescue gems from the vaults of labels like EMI and reissue them on CD. This title presents the great violin virtuoso Johanna Martzy performing Concertos by Mendelssohn and Brahms. Both Concertos feature Paul Kletzki conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra, and both recordings are in mono, the Brahms from 1954 and the Mendelssohn the following year. These performances are first-rate, yet I am withholding a fifth star, despite the fact that I love Kletzki and am becoming a big fan of Martzy.