Symphonies: July 2008 Archives

Lars-Erik Larsson
(1908-1986)

Symphony #1 in D Major, Op 2 (1927-8)
Symphony #2, Op 17 (1937)

Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra/Hans-Peter Frank
BIS CD-426 67:01

Probably best-known for his Pastoral Suite, Larsson wrote three symphonies which, not unexpectedly, owe some debt to Sibelius and Nielsen but are nonetheless individual, combining some austerity with great warmth. The standout for me is the andante of the second symphony which is reminiscent of its counterpart in the Nielsen third. The provincial Swedish orchestra performs admirably.

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[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]

Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda
(1801-1866)

Symphony #5 in B minor, Op 106 (1840)
Symphony#7 in F Major (1843)
Overture #16

Das Neue Orchester/Christoph Spering
CPO 777139-2 68:29

The Bohemian Kalliwoda (aka Kalivoda) spent most of his career in Germany, especially at Donaueschingen. His music shows the influence of Beethoven, Weber and Mendelssohn. Das Neue Orchester is an historically-informed practice band which plays these works with great spirit, and makes much of the occasional unusual percussion writing. Such performances are not to all tastes, but I think Spering's musicians make the best case for unfamiliar music.

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[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]

Eric Ewazen
(b. 1954)

Concerto for Violin & Strings (2000) ¹
Concerto for Oboe & Strings "Down a River of Time" (1999) ²
Sinfonia for Strings (2001)

¹ Adele Anthony, violin
² Linda Strommen, oboe
International Sejong Soloists/Hyo Kang
Albany TROY577 64:27

Listening to this as a blindfold test, you might consider Vaughan Williams or a less well-known English composer such as Howells or Rubbra, or occasionally John Adams, or even Thomas Newman. Ewazen was born in Cleveland and on the evidence of this CD, writes extremely approachable music with passages of great beauty, which is a good enough reason for checking this out.

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[ Sheet music by this composer: Sheet Music Plus - Musicnotes.com ]

Artur Kapp
(1878-1952)
Don Carlos Overture (1899)

Eugen Kapp
(1908-1996)
Kalevipoeg Ballet Suite (1947)

Villem Kapp
(1913-1964)
Symphony #2 in C Minor (1955)

BBC Symphony Orchestra/Neeme Järvi
Chandos CHAN10441 63:34

This Estonian family is made up of Artur, his son, Eugen and nephew, Villem. Much of Artur's training was in Russia, and he taught both the younger men. The overture sounds thematically rather like Schumann. Kalevipoeg has echoes of Sibelius and Nielsen, and parts of it even suggest an English influence. The symphony has clear Russian antecedents and a blindfold test would probably guess a Soviet composer. Järvi seems to do some of his best work when presenting the compositions of his countrymen, as we've seen with such CDs as his two Chandos albums of music by various Estonian composers, Tobias' Jonah's Mission and his Tubin cycle.

See also http://kappidemuuseum.suure-jaani.ee/ingl.html

[ Available on CD: Amazon - UK - Germany - Canada - France - Japan - ArkivMusic - CD Universe ]