A belated thank you for your support, Antonio.

Monday, November 13, 2017

Kurt Atterberg - Symphony for Strings (Ulf Wallin)


Information

Composer: Kurt Atterberg
  • (01-04) Sinfonia per archi, Op. 53
  • (05) Adagio amoroso for violin & strings
  • (06-08) Intermezzo
  • (09-10) Prelude and Fugue
  • (11-15) Suite No. 7, Op. 29 (Incidental music to Shakespeare's "Antoine et Cléopatre")

Camerata Nordica
Ulf Wallin, violin & conductor

Date: 2005
Label: CPO


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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 9 / SOUND QUALITY: 9

This is fantastically beautiful music: luscious, tuneful, evocative, but never decadent or devoid of energy and purpose. The Sinfonia for strings began life as a quintet, but it sounds splendid for large ensemble. Its four relatively compact movements last about half an hour and are suffused with that “Nordic melancholy” that makes so much of Atterberg’s music appealing. There’s plenty of vigor too, particularly in the second-movement scherzo and finale. Adagio amoroso was Atterberg’s last orchestral work, completed when he was 80, and it also is primarily wistful in character. Both the Intermezzo and Prelude & Fugue are occasional pieces, the former big-boned and hymn-like, the latter slight and generically nice.

Most delightful of all is the Suite No. 7, a string arrangement of incidental music to Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. This is marvelous stuff, worthy of Grieg at his best, with a third-movement waltz that easily could become a pops concert favorite. The performances are uniformly excellent: well-played, passionate, and intense, doing the music full justice. Sonically the microphones are just a bit too close to the strings; the result can be overwhelming in fortissimos, but given Atterberg’s romantic style it’s a slip in the right direction. This is a disc not to be missed, and a treat for all fans of good, warm, tuneful, big-hearted music. [3/14/2006]
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Kurt Atterberg (12 December 1887 – 15 February 1974) was a Swedish composer and engineer, best known for his symphonies, operas and ballets. Atterberg composed nine symphonies, six concertante works, nine orchestral suites, three string quartets, five operas and two ballets. His works combine compositional styles of the Russians, Brahms and Reger with Swedish folk tunes. From 1924 to 1947, Atterberg was president of the Society of Swedish Composers, which he co-founded in 1918, alongside other prominent composers such as Ture Rangström, Wilhelm Stenhammar and Hugo Alfvén.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Atterberg

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Ulf Wallin is a Swedish violinist who was born in Växjö and grew up in Linköping. He studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. He has particular interest in contemporary music and close collaboration with composers such as Anders Eliasson, Alfred Schnittke and Rodion Shchedrin. Wallin has made numerous recordings for radio and television, and recorded over 40 CD recordings for labels BIS, cpo, EMI and BMG. He is professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" Berlin since 1996, and a member of the Royal Music Academy since 2015.
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulf_Wallin

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4 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Good morning Ronald Do,

    So pleased that you use MegaNZ - for me it is the best 'file download manager' (or whatever you call it?).

    An interesting choice of music.

    Thanking you.

    Cheers,

    Douglas (UK)

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  3. The "Sinfonia per archi" is one of my discoveries of the year. Thanks!!!

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