Pleasant music making, but not much more...

Franz Berwald must be best known for his Third Symphony, a work with curious harmonic progressions which tantalize the listener.

Look at the front cover's list of tone poems. Don't those titles set the imagination racing? Yet the music doesn't quite attain where the imagination can reach.

Berwald always had a light, bubbly style akin to Mendelssohn, at least to my ears. His music does contain small melodic cells, yet here, I don't hear the hook.

Also, in these works at least, he has a tendency to just end the music, as if Berwald wasn't sure if it was ever going to happen. The build-up to a conclusion is just not there.

To call this pleasant sounding music might be faint praise, but it is exactly that. I want more, but I don't get less.

A review from 2024

Swedish composer Franz Berwald was an early Romantic, much in the vein of Mendelssohn. His music prefers light, forward moving, skittish, scherzo-like textures, but without the remarkable tunefulness and colour of the masterful Mendelssohn.

The four tone poems have fun titles attached to them, and I daresay that makes them far more interesting than the music. These are pleasant sounding diversions, but hardly much more than that. The Golconda Overture continues in the same style, while the Concert Piece for Bassoon is a lengthy showcase for that instrument.

This recording doesn’t have much in the way of meat and potatoes, but that might also be the writing style of Berwald. Both Björlin and Ehrling are bolder and faster with some of this music, although I don't think either have a complete set or are attached to the symphonies.

Petri Sakari and the Gävle SO, on the other hand, sound lovely in these performances, and if everything is played light and frothy, it seems true to this Scandinavian composer.

Listen on YouTube

Works
Reminiscence of the Norwegian Mountains (9.24)
Concert Piece for Bassoon (11.50)
Foot-Race (8.45)
Serious and Joyful Fancies (8.44)
Queen of Galconda Overture (7.55)
Elfenspiel (8.46)

Performers:
Patrik Håkansson, bassoon
Gävle Symphony Orchestra
Petri Sakari, conductor

Label: Naxos
Year: 2005
Total Timing: 55.24

 

  Pleasant music, where I want more.

  I think Berwald is better represented elsewhere, but this is still lovely music.

  For these tone poems, I would probably search out Ehrling or Björlin for sharper-edged portrayals.

Find more Berwald recordings HERE!