Alfven: Symphony No. 2 / The Prodigal Son

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Cat No: 8555072

Release Date: 08 January 2001

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 747313507221

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: ALFVEN

Description
The music of Hugo Alfvén has always occupied a place of honour in the hearts of the Swedish people. Few composers have been seen to represent the soul of the people as he did. The fact that he lived for a long time in the heart of Dalecarlia, the landscape which is associated more than any other with genuine Swedish folk-music tradition, almost certainly contributed to this conception of him.In fact, Alfvén came from Stockholm where, at the age of fifteen, he became a pupil at the Music Conservatory with the violin as his main subject. There, during the 1890s, he made progress, while also taking private composition lessons from Johan Lindegren, the foremost Swedish counterpoint expert of the time. Alfvén earned a living as a violinist at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. His time in the opera orchestra (Hovkapellet) gave him profound insight into the characters and capabilities of the various instruments. The colourful, virtuoso style of orchestration that he developed has been compared with that of Richard Strauss.For a ten-year period beginning in 1897, Alfvén spent much of his time travelling around Europe, partly with the aid of a Jenny Lind Scholarship. He refined his violin technique in Brussels; he learned conducting in Dresden. He turned down a position as teacher of composition in Stockholm. Instead, from 1910, he based himself in Uppsala, where he became director musices at the university. There he began a collaboration with the male-voice choir Orphei Drängar (OD); he was to remain the choir’s conductor until 1947 and, with tours in Europe and the United States, he was to spread its fame internationally. For many years he also conducted other choirs, including Allmänna Sången and Siljanskören. For half a century, Alfvén played a dominant rôle in the Swedish choral tradition not only as a conductor, but also as a composer and arranger.Alfvén’s talents were not confined to music. He was a fine painter of watercolours and, as a young man, considered devoting himself to painting. He later wrote a captivating four-volume autobiography which not only describes his own career but also provides illuminating insights into many other aspects of Swedish musical life.Many music-lovers are most familiar with Alfvén as a merry, folksy musician in works such as Midsommarvaka (Midsummer Vigil), internationally one of the most familiar pieces of Swedish music, Vallflickans dans (Dance of the Herd-Girl), the ballet Den förlorade sonen (The Prodigal Son) and a number of choral songs. In his symphonies, five in all, and symphonic poems, we more frequently encounter an elegiac and often dramatic aspect of his personality. His First Symphony, written in 1897, already reveals a Sturm und Drang-like melancholy that recurs regularly in his music. On the other hand, there is also a positive side, which was soon to come fully into bloom.Alfvén’s Symphony No.2 in D
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