Release Date: 12 January 1999
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 730099496223
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: ALFVEN
Description
Hugo Alfven(1872-1960)Symphony No. 1 in Fminor, Op. 7; Suite from Bergakungen Festival Overture;Uppsala RhapsodyThe music of Hugo Alfven has always been close to the hearts of theSwedish people. More than any other composer he is regarded as representing thespirit of the country. This might also be due to the fact that for many yearshe lived in Dalecarlia, the province where genuine folk-music tradition is atits strongest.Alfven came in fact from Stockholm, and from the age of fifteen studiedthe violin at the Conservatory there. It was thus on the violin that hesupported himself during the 1890s whilst taking private lessons in compositionwith Johan Lindegren, the leading contrapuntalist of the day. He earned hisdaily bread as a violinist at the Opera, and his time in the orchestra theregave him comprehensive insights into the nature and possibilities of differentinstruments. The colourful and virtuoso orchestration skills he developed havebeen compared with those of Richard Strauss.From 1897 Alfven spent ten years travelling in Europe, partly financedby a Jenny Lind scholarship. In Brussels he polished his violin technique, andin Dresden he studied conducting. He declined a post as teacher of compositionin Stockholm, settling instead in Uppsala where he was appointed DirectorMusices at the University in 1910. He was to stay there for thirteen years.In Uppsala Alfven began a collaboration with the male, mostly academic,choir Orphei Drangar ('The Servants of Orpheus'), known as OD, remaining itsconductor until 1947, and bringing the choir to international renown throughtours in Europe and the United States. He also conducted other well-knownchoirs, such as Allmanna S?Ñngen and Siljanskoren. Thus for over half a centuryAlfven played a dominant r??le in Swedish choral tradition, not only as aconductor, but also as a composer and arranger.Alfven's talents were not confined to music alone. He was anaccomplished painter of water colours and had in his youth contemplated acareer as a painter. Furthermore he proved to be an engaging writer with anautobiography in four volumes which describes Swedish music life at the time,as well as his own life.Many music-lovers know Alfven best as the popular, cheerful entertainerin compositions such as Midsommarvaka ('Midsummer Vigil') (thebest-known piece of Swedish music outside Sweden), Vallflickans dans ('Danceof the Shepherd Girl'), the ballet Den forlorade sonen ('The ProdigalSon') and a great many choral songs. His five symphonies and his symphonicpoems reveal a different, more elegiac and often more dramatic side. His FirstSymphony, composed in 1897, has a melancholy Sturm und Drang moodthat recurs at intervals in his later compositions, but there is also alife-affirming side that flourished in his Second Symphony, two yearslater.Most artists know how difficult it can be to find the right ideas if thesubject does not appeal. A lack of ideas is far more trying than the labour ofcomposition itself. It was failin
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Hagen Po&C
Guillermo Gonzalez
Glen Wilson
