Bengt Wilhelm Hallberg: Symphony in F; Concert
Overture No. 2; Joseph Dente: Symphony in D minor. Malmö Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Per Engström (Hallberg); Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
conducted by Ola Karlsson (Dente). Sterling. $18.99.
The Heritage of Wilhelm Stenhammar. Collector’s Classics.
$18.99 (4 CDs).
The words “Sweden” and “symphony” are not
often paired by listeners, although the four excellent examples by Franz
Berwald (1796-1868) have received some well-deserved attention in recent years.
There are many reasons for the neglect of Swedish symphonists, not the least of
which is that only one city, Stockholm, was sufficiently cosmopolitan in the 19th
century to offer important concerts; and Sweden had only one professional
orchestra, the Royal Court Orchestra – in Stockholm, of course. This did not
stop composers from symphonic writing altogether, but it meant that their
efforts were few and far between, since in the days before recordings, there
was little value to creating music that would not be performed for an audience.
Thus, Swedish composers after Berwald’s time, even if they studied with Berwald
himself, might well end up trying the symphonic form only once – and that is
what happened with both Bengt Wilhelm Hallberg (1824-1883) and Joseph Dente
(1838-1905). Performances of these composers’ symphonies remain excruciatingly
rare: a new Sterling disc had to reach all the way back to 1992 for the Dente
symphony and even further, to 1984, for Hallberg’s. But for those interested in
some of the less-known byways of Romantic music, the CD is certainly
worthwhile, both for what it illuminates about Swedish Romantic composers and
for some of the music in its own right. In the case of Hallberg, his Concert Overture No. 2 (also recorded in
1984) proves more interesting than his symphony: the overture is tightly
constructed and technically skillful, showing the influence of Berwald – with
whom Hallberg studied in 1849-50. Hallberg primarily wrote church music, but
this overture shows him to have been quite capable in purely instrumental
pieces. It sounds like a curtain-raiser for a drama even though it was written
as a standalone piece. Hallberg’s symphony is less effective: primarily gentle
and lyrical, it features some well-thought-out wind writing but does not
generally move much beyond Haydn’s time in structure or approach (although it
does in instrumentation). Dente’s symphony, although also derivative, is more
successful. Dente did not study with Berwald – a violinist, he studied with
several of the best virtuoso players of his time – and his work shows little
influence from Berwald but a great deal from Mendelssohn. It is quite a short
symphony for its time (1887, nearly two decades after Hallberg’s), but its
intensity is very clear. It remains in the minor almost throughout, including
at the very end; and in common with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Dente’s work
reserves trombones (in Dente’s case, three of them) for the finale. The work
exudes seriousness of purpose but not of emotion: its not-too-slow slow
movement, Andante, brings respite
from more-serious matters without ever delving into any depth of feeling. The
symphony is more interesting than impressive, but it is interesting, and shows the value of seeking out works by
well-trained if scarcely first-order composers.
In the years after Hallberg’s and Dente’s
symphonies, one Swedish composer who took up the form – and became better-known
for it than either Hallberg or Dente – was Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927), who
composed two completed symphonies and a portion of a third. But Stenhammar was
not particularly satisfied with his work in symphonic form: he withdrew his
first symphony (1902-03), which he decided was too imitative of the works of
Wagner and (particularly) Bruckner. His second symphony (1911-15), much more
heavily influenced by the works of Sibelius (especially that composer’s
Symphony No. 2), is the one symphonic work for which Stenhammar remains
well-known. Stenhammar was also a first-rate pianist and a conductor, and
remains important in those roles – more so than as a symphonist. He is not,
however, particularly familiar to audiences outside Sweden – and even listeners
who do know him and his music will have to be dedicated aficionados if they are
to appreciate a four-CD set on the Collector’s Classics label with the title The Heritage of Wilhelm Stenhammar. In
1905, Stenhammar recorded five piano rolls for Welte-Mignon, so some of his
pianism is preserved; but none of his conducting. However, performances led by
his successor, Tor Mann, and by Mann’s successor, Sixten Eckerberg, were recorded, and they form the basis
of this release. There is quite a bit of Stenhammar’s Second here: the first
disc consists entirely of Mann’s rehearsals of the first, second and fourth
movement – at quite some length in the case of the first movement and finale.
The second disc is an actual Mann performance of the first movement of the
symphony, with additional Stenhammar music filling out the CD. The third
movement features Symphony No. 2 again, this time led by Eckerberg, together
with other Stenhammar works. Mann, a cellist, played Stenhammar’s music under
the composer’s baton, so there is certainly authenticity to what he offers, but
Eckerberg’s pacing of the first movement of Symphony No. 2 is more
satisfactory, lasting just over 12 movements vs. 16 for Mann. How Stenhammar
himself handled the movement is, of course, unknown. The most salient
characteristic of this release for the majority of listeners is that it truly
is a historical document: the Mann recordings were made between 1938 and 1959,
and the Eckerberg ones date to 1945-48 and originally appeared on 78-rpm discs.
Although the remastering of the material is certainly adequate for purposes of
historical remembrance, nothing on these discs will be of much interest to
listeners who have only mild familiarity with Stenhammar (as symphonist,
composer for piano, or anything else). This release offers very early recordings
of Stenhammar’s music for those enthusiasts who know him and his compositions
so well that they want to listen to readings by some of the people who knew
Stenhammar personally or were directly influenced by him. That is a small and
highly rarefied group – even more so outside Sweden than in it. For almost
everyone outside that inner circle, Stenhammar’s Symphony No. 2 and some of his
other works heard here – such as his Serenade,
Op. 31 – are far better served in more-recent performances, which make a better
case for Stenhammar as a composer whose works are worth at least an occasional
hearing outside his homeland.
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