Information
Composer: Hugo Alfvén
- Aftonen
- 7 Dikter av Ernest Thiel, Op. 28
- 4 Låtar från Leksand (after Lekatt Mats)
- 3 Österlingsånger, Op. 22
- Skärgårdsbilder, Op. 17
- 2 Lyriska stamningar, Op. 8
- Så tag mit hjerte
Elin Rombo, soprano
Peter Friis Johansson, piano
Date: 2022
Label: BIS
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Recordings of Hugo Alfvén (1872-1960) mostly concentrate on his larger-scale works: five symphonies, several cantatas, and orchestral works, including the three Swedish Rhapsodies, of which the First, Midsummer Vigil, remains his best-known work. Not unlike Grieg, however, he was a gifted miniaturist and melodist. This very nicely produced BIS release focuses on 14 songs and two shorter piano cycles from the breadth of his career, performed on Alfvén’s own Steinway in the composer’s home (now a museum).
This year marks, as with Vaughan Williams, the 150th anniversary of Alfvén’s birth (he died less than two years after his greater English contemporary). The programme put together by Elin Rombo and Peter Friis Johansson ranges from the early Two Lyrical Moods of 1899, which cover many moods and textures, to the simpler, more overtly romantic late songs, ‘Evenings’ (better known in its choral original, Aftonen) and ‘So take my heart’. In between lie the rich and powerful cycle of seven songs on poems by a friend (and banker), Ernst Thiel (Op 28, 1908), and three settings of Anders Österling, Op 22 (1905), punctuated by two piano cycles, the four dances or låtar named for his house, Leksand, in 1914 – just as the Norwegian Harald Sæverud would do in a later war with his Songs and Dances of Siljustøl – and the more imposing Archipelago Pictures (1901 02).
Elin Rombo’s voice has a warmly natural tone and she sings here with delightful clarity and, where necessary, power. This can be heard in the Lyrical Moods and the seven Thiel songs. MariAnne Häggander recorded these (as well as ‘So take my heart’ and some of the Opp 22 and 28 sets) for Bluebell a decade or more ago but less engagingly than Rombo here. Friis Johansson is an exemplary accompanist and plays the two piano cycles with great sympathy. BIS’s sound is, as always, markedly more refined, capturing the domestic side of Alfvén beautifully.
-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone
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Hugo Alfvén (May 1, 1872 – May 8, 1960) was a Swedish composer, conductor, violinist, and painter. Alfvén became known as one of Sweden's principal composers of his time, together with his contemporary Wilhelm Stenhammar. Alfvén's music is in a late-Romantic idiom. His orchestration is skillful and colorful, reminiscent of that of Richard Strauss. Like Strauss, Alfvén wrote a considerable amount of program music. Some of Alfvén's music evokes the landscape of Sweden. Alfvén played violin at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, toured Europe as a conductor throughout his life, and also a talented watercolorist painter.
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Eva Elin Rombo, née Karlsson (born 29 January 1976), is a Swedish operatic soprano. She studied at Brandon University in Canada, and at Operahögskolan i Stockholm where she graduated in 2003. During her studies, she made her stage debut at the Royal Swedish Opera as Christa in Janáček's The Makropulos Affair. After graduation, Rombo performed for the Royal Swedish Opera, the Frankfurt Opera and the Berlin State Opera. She made her debut at the Salzburg Festival in the lead role of Luigi Nono's Al gran sole carico d'amore in 2009. In November 2013 she was named Hovsångerska by the Swedish monarch.
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Peter Friis Johansson (born 1983) is a Swedish classical pianist who also holds citizenship of Denmark. He studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm where his teachers are Anders Kilström and Mats Widlund. Friis Johansson won first prize in the Alaska International Piano-e-Competition in 2014. He has premiered concerti by Sven-David Sandström and Andrea Tarrodi, as well as completed and premiered the piano concerto by Laura Netzel in 2020. In addition to his solo career Friis Johansson is a passionate chamber musician. As a teacher, he taught at the Academy of Music in Västerås during 2015-2020.
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Thanks very much for these pieces, Ronald Do!
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