February 25, 2019

  • Blomstedt Returns to Gothenburg

     

    Stenhammar: Symphony No. 2; Serenade in F
    Gothenburg Symphony/Herbert Blomstedt
    BIS 2424
    Total Time:  83:31
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    The Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927) marks the transition from Romanticism into somewhat more modern sensibilities.  His earlier music picks up from the Wagnerian romantics and blends this with folk song.  While mostly self-taught, he would go on to create a great deal of excellent music that is still popular in Sweden.  Among his popular works is his brilliant Excelsior! Overture.  He wrote two symphonies (and a fragment of a third also exists) among which the second tends to be the more well known.  Neeme Jarvi recorded this early on in his career with this orchestra in 1994 and then revisited them again for Deutsche Grammophon a little over a decade later.  The second symphony really tends to fair quite well with nary a bad performance.  It is then perhaps only fitting that BIS release this ample recording with Herbert Blomstedt conducting an orchestra that he first worked with 65 years ago!  Here he returns to that orchestra, the very one Stenhammar wrote these works for originally, with an attention he has always wanted to give to this cherished work.  To top it off he includes the equally fine Serenade in F, Op. 31.  This makes for a really lengthy disc but this does not seem to cause sonic issues.  At any rate, one can only hope he will consider recording more!

    In the Symphony No. 2 in g, Op. 34 (1911-1915), one can already begin to hear the way Stenhammar is transitioning away from Wagnerian models, approaching a more complex quality that one can also sense happening in the music of Sibelius, who was a close friend.  The work is cast in four movements with a traditional general structural plan.  The opening melody has a sense that we are hearing a folk song that is emphasized in the structure of the melody and the rhythmic syncopations.  A gorgeous lyrical theme also provides the perfect contrast.  Most fascinating though is the composer’s flirtation with ancient church modes.  This can be heard in the way the music modulates to different key centers and some almost chorale-like thematic statements.  The winds are also treated to important solo moments and brass get these grand, full gestures.  It is no wonder that the orchestra enjoys performing the work.  The contrapuntal work here is also fascinating as the thematic threads are broken down into motives which get repeated throughout the movement.  The first movement thus creates a sense that we are celebrating the great music of the past while preparing us harmonically for the future.  The slow movement follows with a somber lyrical idea in strings with intriguing rhythmic accompaniment.  It has the sense of a processional with the sort of ebb and flow and climactic arrivals that can also be heard in Sibelius.  The scherzo has a notable trio that Stenhammar wrote to honor his colleagues in the wind and horn section of the orchestra.  The playfulness of the outer sections has great energy as well and moves into a grand waltz style giving hints to folkish style.  The finale is a fascinating double fugue that features a beautiful central singing cantilena.  It is among the finest examples of contrapuntal orchestral writing by a Swedish composer.  It certainly had its troubles initially with critics and audiences alike trying to come to grips with the complexity of the music.  Perhaps due to this, and the odd harmonic/modal ideas, the response was not good.  But less than a decade later, when the work was performed at the Nordic Music Festival, critics found the piece revelatory and a model of new music.  By the time the work has finished, listeners can see how far Stenhammar has come from his Wagnerian language and entered firmly a realm being explored by Sibelius and Nielsen.

    Written at the same time as the second symphony, Stenhammar’s Serenade in F, Op. 31 (1911-1913/1919) is a rather massive work.  While it is considered one of the core pieces in the Swedish orchestral repertoire, it was withdrawn for revision shortly after its initial performances.  The piece had its roots in the composer’s trip to Italy and wanted to draw on his experiences there to shape the music.  Hints for this are sprinkled throughout the piece, often “hidden” by the composer’s choice of tempo markings or movement titles.  The opening “Overtura” is a perfect example with its somewhat Italianate melodies, themselves beautifully explored through inventive orchestration, as well as with the cheerful designation “Allegrissimo”.  The waltzing second movement, “Canzonetta”, is the shortest of the five movements with it being a nice, little piece.  This, and the other two central movements are played “attaca” which suggests an additional three-part structure, as well as the expectation that they are played together (not extracted for individual performance).  The “Scherzo” thus becomes a sort of wild-paced work here, perhaps the evening celebration before the calm of the following “Notturno”.  Here the music seems to be more a Northerner reminiscing about evenings in his homeland than any sort of local Italian evening.  In a way, it is like any vacationer whose trip still comes to an end as they look to return home.  The finale brings things back to a fuller orchestral sound and is notable for a chromatic section and the use of a timpani pedal point.  There are plenty of great performances of this work as well and this is certainly going to go down as one of the signature performances.

    BIS has created an ample-playing disc that really captures the Gothenburg Symphony perfectly.  The recordings were made in concerts at the Gothenburg Concert Hall in December 2013 and June 2014.  Blomstedt’s performances are quite astonishing with a great sense of line and excellent attention to the detail of accents and excellent dynamic nuances as well.  As one listens it recalls his great Nielsen cycle with the San Francisco Symphony.  One can only hope that this release is a harbinger of more superb work to come.  This is a stunning recording with such engaging music worth everyone’s attention.