Dag Wirén - Symphony No. 3; etc. (Rumon Gamba)

Information

Composer: Dag Wirén

• (01) Symphony No. 3, Op. 20
• (04) Serenade for String Orchestra, Op. 11
• (08) Divertimento, Op. 29
• (12) Sinfonietta in C major, Op. 7a

Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Rumon Gamba, conductor

Date: 2018
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%205194

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Review

Completed towards the end of the Second World War, Dag Wirén’s Third Symphony acknowledges the starker ‘militaristic’ modalities of the time while remaining rooted in the more neoclassical sort of Sibelius; woodwind pair off perkily, often in thirds. Its undeniably eclectic quality may momentarily put you in mind of Vaughan Williams during lyrical passages or of Nielsen during climaxes – some are quite dark – but there’s certainly enough of a distinctive voice to quell the doubts. Better at hustle and bustle than profundity, Wirén’s vaguely Gallic civility holds up until his inflated denouement, pastiche Sibelius in triumphalist mode. In the outer movements Rumon Gamba’s interpretation dispenses with some of Thomas Dausgaard’s impatient drive and the lovely slow movement is given more space to bloom on Chandos’s ample sound stage.

This is a work Gamba has given in London as well as Reykjavík and there’s no mistaking his affection for the idiom: his 70 minute anthology would seem intent on seducing the general collector. Very attractive it is too, even if I would not want to be without the famous analogue recording of the Serenade (1937) by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. With leaner forces Marriner elicits a measured yet snappier account of the finale once associated with a BBC flagship arts programme.

Gamba’s other choices, by turns gently motoric and wistful, are pleasant rather than earth-shattering. Neither lasts as long as 20 minutes and the composer’s French training discourages a recurrence of hyperbole. The tauter Divertimento, a product of the 1950s, brings no fundamental stylistic evolution. (Even when providing the melody for Sweden’s old-school entry in the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest, Wirén crossed Sibelius’s Valse triste with Prokofiev’s Cinderella.) In Chandos’s trilingual booklet, Gamba explains that he ‘wanted to record all the pieces using the large body of a full symphonic string section’. An eminently recommendable disc.

-- David Gutman, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/May/Wiren_sy3_CHSA5194.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Jun/Wiren_sy3_CHSA5194.htm
https://www.audaud.com/dag-wiren-symphony-no-3-iceland-symphony-orchestra-rumon-gamba-chandos/
https://www.allmusic.com/album/dag-wir%C3%A9n-sinfonietta-serenade-for-strings-symphony-no-3-divertimento-mw0003140297
https://www.amazon.com/Wiren-Rumon-Iceland-Symphony-Orchestra/dp/B077PKNR8M

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Dag Wirén (15 October 1905 – 19 April 1986) was a Swedish composer. Wirén studied at the Stockholm Conservatory and continued his studies in Paris. Wirén's output, which ranges from serious to popular, is notable for its quality rather than quantity, and a number of his works were refused opus numbers or withdrawn. He once commented that his first desire was to entertain and please, and compose listener-friendly 'modern' music. As well as composing, Wirén regularly played piano on Swedish Radio during the 1930s; he also devoted himself to chamber music in the 1930s and 40s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dag_Wir%C3%A9n

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Rumon Gamba (born 24 November 1972), is an English conductor. He studied conducting with Colin Metters, George Hurst and Sir Colin Davis at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Gamba was Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra from 2002 to 2010. In October 2008, he was named the next chief conductor and music director of NorrlandsOperan. In March 2011, Gamba was named chief conductor of the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra. Gamba has conducted a number of recordings for the Chandos Records label, particularly in their Film Music series.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumon_Gamba

http://www.rumongamba.com/

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