Allan Pettersson - Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 for String Orchestra (Christian Lindberg)

Information

Composer: Allan Pettersson

• (01) Eight Barefoot Songs (orch. Antal Doráti)
• (09) Concerto for String Orchestra No. 1
• (12) Concerto for String Orchestra No. 2

Anders Larsson, baritone (1-8)
Nordic Chamber Orchestra
Christian Lindberg, conductor

Date: 2009
Label: BIS Records
https://bis.se/composer/pettersson-allan/allan-pettersson-eight-barefoot-songs-etc

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Review

Searching accounts of some of Allan Pettersson’s most approachable scores

It may surprise those familiar only with Pettersson’s large, obsessive symphonic edifices how natural a lyrical miniaturist he was but the 24 Barefoot Songs composed to his own texts in 1943‑45 offer ample proof of his natural songwriting genius. Had prospective publishers been more enlightened his song output might well have been considerably greater; instead it is restricted to just 30 songs and various arrangements (by other hands) of selected Barefoot Songs.

It is no surprise that such selections, like the Doráti octet recorded here, feature “Blomma, säj” (literally “Flower, say” but usually translated as “Tell me, flower”); it is a simple, beautiful song with a lovely refrain, but there are pearls and gems among the others, such as “Klokaroch knythänder” (“Wise Men and Clenched Hands”) or the final “En spelekarls himlafärd” (“Death of a fiddler”); some approach Sibelian power (if not subtlety or range). Anders Larsson’s sympathetic renditions underline the lyrical qualities, beautifully accompanied by the Nordic Chamber Orchestra under Christian Lindberg.

Lindberg evidently has a real feel for Pettersson’s music, heard in the first two of the three concertos for string orchestra. His account of No 1 (1949‑50) is even swifter than Westerberg’s pioneering account though at times sounds more relaxed; there is more light and shade, facets brought out by BIS’s superlative recording. No 2 (1956) is the real find, though, a vital and dramatic piece which the composer unaccountably did not favour as much as its brothers. It is a work all string orchestras should know and Lindberg proves a most persuasive advocate.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

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Allan Pettersson (19 September 1911 – 20 June 1980) was a Swedish composer and violist. Pettersson studied violin and viola at the conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and composition in Paris with René Leibowitz, Arthur Honegger, Olivier Messiaen, and Darius Milhaud. Today he is considered one of the most important Swedish composers of the 20th century. His symphonies developed a devoted international following, starting in the final decade of his life. Most of his music has now been recorded at least once and much of it is now available in published score.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Pettersson

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Christian Lindberg (born 15 February 1958 in Danderyd) is a Swedish trombonist, conductor and composer. Lindberg studied with John Iveson at the Royal College of Music (1979–1980) and with Ralph Sauer and Roger Bobo in Los Angeles (1983). In 2000, Lindberg made his conducting debut with the Northern Sinfonia in the UK and is currently principal conductor of the Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also chief conductor of the Nordic Chamber Orchestra (2005–2010) and the Swedish Wind Ensemble (2005–2012). Lindberg has recorded over 60 albums, for BIS and other labels such as Onyx.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Lindberg

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