Stenhammer

This is a nice performance of a beautiful and unfortunately little known piano concerto by probably Sweden's greatest composer Wilhelm Stenhammar. Stenhammar was a famous concert pianist in his day but had an odd aversion to playing his own music. He also quit composing piano music early in adulthood, turning instead to composing other music such as vocal compositions. Because of his failure to promote his piano compositions, a performance tradition was not established for them and they became largely unknown until recently.

Wilhelm Stenhammar - Serenad, Midwinter, Chitra
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Choir / Esa-Pekka Salonen
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 263 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Musica Sveciae # MSCD 626 | Country/Year: Sweden 1990
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

…Stenhammar eventually became one of the most important Scandinavian musicians of his era, and his compositions, including many songs, choral works, chamber and solo pieces, and theater and orchestral works represent the best music out of turn-of-the-century Sweden

Anne Sofie von Otter is a leading mezzo-soprano known for her versatility in operatic roles, her interesting recital choices, and her willingness to take vocal risks. Her father was a Swedish diplomat whose career took the family to Bonn, London, and back to Stockholm while Anne Sofie was growing up. As a result, she gained fluency in languages. She studied music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Her main voice teacher was Vera Rozsa, while Erik Werba and Geoffrey Parsons coached her in lieder interpretation.

Robert Kajanus (1856–1933) is likely to be known primarily as a conductor rather than as a composer. He thus joins a list of other illustrious maestros whose conducting careers eclipsed their creative activities. Wilhelm Furtwängler, Jean Martinon, Paul Kletzki, Antal Dorati, and currently Esa-Pekka Salonen are just a few of the names that come to mind. Kajanus is recognized today chiefly as one of the early champions of Sibelius, and his recordings of most of Sibelius’s symphonies, though a bit hard to come by, can still be had.

In the third CD in his continuing series of the great Swedish late romantic composer, Kurt Atterberg, Neeme Jarvi interprets the two symphonies here in an invigorating manner with tempos that are rather fast and sometimes abrupt. Although the performances by Ari Rasilainen done some 15 years ago to my ears are still the preferred performances of these pieces in terms of bringing out the greatness of Atterberg's musical genius, Jarvi offers the listener a valid interpretation. Although his tempos are often rather too rushed and the adagio moments almost too quiet, the Gothenberg musicians are playing music that is close to their heart with impassioned and soaring string playing and the brass sections brilliant. The slow lyrical introduction to the final movement of Symphony No 1 with concertmaster Sara Troback Hesselink gives us the most moving and beautiful bars Atterberg ever composed.

It would be especially interesting to hear Jarvi's interpretation of Atterberg's older contemporary Peterson-Berger who is mentioned in the booklet notes. Although his role as a music credit affected his reputation in his lifetime, this says little of his melodic qualities and orchestration, which makes him one of the three greatest Swedish late romantic composers to my ear with Atterberg and Wilhelm Stenhammer and a cut above Hugo Alfven and Ture Rangstrom.

This disc is especially valuable for the only performance of the 1947 revised version of the 5th symphony. The book notes are also especially valuable with informative background along with archival photographs. The recording is also the best available in Chandos 24 bit sound. These additional features should give this CD a 4 1/2 star rating.