Wilhelm Peterson-Berger - Symphony No. 4; Suites (Michail Jurowski)

Information

Composer: Wilhelm Peterson-Berger

• (01) Symphony No. 4 in A major, 'Holmia' (Stockholm)
• (04) Törnrossagan (The Story of the Sleeping Beauty)
• (14) Frösöblomster (The Flowers of Frösö)

Norrköping Symphony Orchestra

Michail Jurowski, conductor

Date: 2001

Label: cpo

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

This disc is a charmer. Wilhelm Peterson-Berger’s Fourth Symphony, subtitled “Holmia”, evokes the sites and sounds of his native Stockholm. It’s a light, carefree work mixing hearty Germanic and Swedish folksong with touches (very light touches, mind you) of “American” urban jazz. Premiered in 1930, the symphony attracted much criticism due to its perceived lack of seriousness, but I find its unpretentious simplicity and sense of fantasy entirely in keeping with the subject matter. A city couldn’t ask for a more affectionate tribute.

The Sleeping Beauty Suite and Frösöblomster (Flowers of Frösö) also represent the best in Romantic light music. Their inconsequentiality may sound somewhat faded today, but only if you insist on holding them to a standard of depth that they neither claim nor aspire to. What really matters is that all of this music revels in tunefulness, boasts attractive instrumental sonorities, and avoids dullness at all costs. As with all the discs in this series, Michail Jurowski and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra play the pants off these delightful works, keeping them moving and communicating their innocent joy in music well made. CPO’s recording sounds marvelous, too.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

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Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (27 February 1867, Ullånger, Ångermanland – 3 December 1942, Östersund) was a Swedish composer and music critic. As a composer, his main musical influences were Grieg, August Söderman and Wagner as well as Swedish folk idiom. He is best known for three albums of national romantic piano pieces (Frösöblomster I, II, III), which were composed over a period of 18 years (1896-1914). His other works include five symphonies, four operas and about eighty songs. His songs for vocal ensemble are also still regularly performed, and are part of the core repertoire of Swedish choirs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Peterson-Berger

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Michail Jurowski (born 25 December 1945 in Moscow) is a Russian conductor. He is the son of Soviet composer Vladimir Jurowski (1915-1972), and the father of Russian conductor Vladimir Jurowski (b. 1972). Jurowski studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Lev Ginzburg and Alexey Kandinsky, and also worked as assistant to Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Jurowski was music director and principal conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie (1992-1998), the Leipzig Opera (1999-2001), and the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln (2006-2008). He is currently principal guest conductor of the Sinfonia Iuventus in Warsaw.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michail_Jurowski
https://imgartists.com/roster/michail-jurowski/

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