Various threads or chunks of history or music organized into strings of posts.
performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Leif Segerstam (this piece is featured on a list of pieces I heartily recommend to music directors for inclusion on their season programs. Check out the article here.) Karl-Birger Blomdahl was born … Continue reading Karl-Birger Blomdahl: Symphony no. 3, Facetter
performed by Yamei Yu and the Leipziger Streichquartett, available here or in iTunes Gustav Allan Pettersson was born on 19 September 1911, “the youngest of four children of a violent, alcoholic blacksmith… at the manor of Granhammar in Västra Ryd parish in … Continue reading Gustav Allan Pettersson: Violin Concerto no. 1 for violin and string quartet
performed by the English Chamber Orchestra under Johannes Somary I wanted to share a quote here of the composer expressing his desire to write music “to entertain and please, and compose listener-friendly ‘modern’ music,” as paraphrased in his Wikipedia article, but … Continue reading Dag Wirén: Serenade for Strings, op. 11
performed by the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert Blomstedt One creates out of what has been before, out of the experiences of others, as well as those of oneself, out of everything one knows, has read, or been acquainted with … Continue reading Hilding Rosenberg: Symphony no. 3 ‘The Four Ages of Man’
performed by the Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester under B. Tommy Andersson This is a piece I had to make room for in the schedule, because I came across the Kallstenius name very late in my research, and he seems completely unrelated to … Continue reading Edvin Kallstenius: Symphony no. 2 in Fm, op. 20
performed by the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra under Janos Fürst, or below by the Nörrkoping Symphony Orchestra under Michail Jurowski Anders Johan Ture Rangström was born 30 November, 1884, to a leather merchant in Stockholm, and began writing songs in his … Continue reading Ture Rangström: Symphony no. 3, ‘Sång under stjärnorna’
performed by the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra under Paul Magi, or below by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic under Michael Schonwandt Carl Wilhelm Eugene Stenhammar was born on 7 February, 1871 in Stockholm, where he began studying music. At some point he … Continue reading Wilhelm Stenhammar: Serenade in F, op. 31
performed by the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra under Michail Jurowski or below by the Sveriges Radios Symfoniorkester under Stig Westerberg Olof Wilhelm Peterson-Berger was born 27 February, 1867 in Ullånger (or just not Stockholm), the oldest child of a surveyor, Olof Peterson, and Sophia Wilhelmina, nee Berger. He, too, … Continue reading Wilhelm Peterson-Berger: Symphony no. 3 in Fm ‘Same-Ätnam’
performed by the Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt under Ari Rasilainen The video above is of the second and fifth symphonies back to back. The second symphony ends about 41 minutes in, but this is the recording to listen to. As much as I … Continue reading Kurt Atterberg: Symphony no. 2 in F, op. 6
performed by the Stenhammar Quartet (no YouTube this time, but a review of the album is on MusicWeb, and it’s rather frank and more negative than I was inclined to be. Also, if you’re determined to listen to something today and … Continue reading Atterberg String Quartet no. 2 in B minor, op. 11
performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Niklas Willén The symphony has no programme, it depicts neither concrete nor abstract. It is an expression of the joy of living, an expression of the sun-lit happiness that filled my whole being. … Continue reading Hugo Alfvén: Symphony no. 3 in E major, op.23
performed by the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra under Hans-Peter Frank Another symphony in E flat! Fredrik Vilhelm Ludvig Norman was born on 28 August 1831 in Stockholm, beginning his musical training with Lindblad, from last week. However, he also studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, where he … Continue reading Ludvig Norman: Symphony no. 2 in E flat, op. 40
performed by the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra under Okko Kamu I’ve been very excited about this Swedish Symphony Series for some time, and I think we got off to a great start with the first symphony of Adolf Fredrick Lindblad last week, but today’s … Continue reading Franz Berwald: Symphony no. 4 in E flat, ‘Sinfonie naïve’
performed by the Uppsala Kammarsolister Per August Ölander was born 8 January, 1824 in Linkoping. His father was an organist. He studied at Uppsala University, and owed something of his career to support from his father-in-law, Johan Erik Nord Blom, Director … Continue reading Per August Ölander: String Sextet
Per Sandklef, violin, Gideon Roehr , viola Åke Olofsson, cello Carin Gille-Rybrant, piano Johan August Söderman was born on 17 July, 1832 in Stockholm. Wikipedia says he “has traditionally been seen as the pre-eminent Swedish composer of the Romantic generation, … Continue reading August Söderman: Piano Quartet in E minor
performed by: Bernt Lysell, violin Björn Sjögren, viola Lucia Negro, piano First things first. Do note that this piano trio is for violin, viola, and piano, with no cello. You’ll notice in the recording. Also, it’s an extra installment of our SQS on … Continue reading Lindblad Piano Trio in G minor, Op.10
performed by the Uppsala Kammarorkester under Gérard Korsten or here by the Stockholm Philharmonic under Okko Kamu An exciting symphony to begin an exciting series. Here we are with our first Swedish Symphony in September. This is, obviously, the earliest work to come … Continue reading Adolf Fredrik Lindblad: Symphony No. 1 in C
(for all the posts that were in this series, click here) This one has been brewing for some time. So many series… but I feel like it’s a good way to organize works into a little package, a timeline that … Continue reading September’s Swedish Symphony Series 2016
performed by the Talich Quartet, or below in a nice performance from the Halcyon Music Festival with a small introduction The opening of this work seems like such a mature, polished, well-executed work for a young, early composition like a first string … Continue reading Mendelssohn String Quartet no. 1 in E flat, op. 12
performed by the Amadeus Quartet and movement 2 and movement 3 respectively, or in a complete performance here (with the score) that is also very nice And now we’ll jump back more than two hundred years before last week’s quartet … Continue reading W. A. Mozart String Quartet No. 3 in G, K. 156
performed by the Smith Quartet, or below by the Spektral Quartet or in another great performance here Here we are! This is something many more people will recognize as Philip Glass. The description of the above video says it is … Continue reading Glass String Quartet no. 2, ‘Company’
Fugue for Thought 