A Stenhammar Set to Keep!

 

If you lived in the CD era, this set was, and continues to be, a great way to get to know Wilhelm Stenhammar.

I have commented on the individual works in this set elsewhere on the blog, so if you want more detail I would point you there first.

Otherwise, this is a treasure trove of recordings of Stenhammar's orchestral and concertante music, paired with some interesting choral and vocal works too.

While the symphonies and piano concertos have received a little bit of advocacy elsewhere, recordings of Stenhammar is not rampant. So I remain impressed with this set still. Neeme Jarvi did go back and rerecord the symphonies with Gothenburg on DG, and the Piano Concertos have had fine recordings on Naxos and Hyperion, so there is decent competition here.

It is the smaller works which lead me to hold on to this set, not to mention the live recordings of Gothenburg exploring the symphonies, and fine piano soloists in the concertos. I think Midvinter and Excelsior! are absolute orchestral gems, plus a cantata, an orchestrated song, a concertante diptych, and some smaller orchestral works add to the importance of this set.

The only loss is the lack of the Chitra incidental suite, which was not carried over from the original individual releases, along with a recording of Stenhammar's solo instrumental sonatas. Bis never entered into the composer's string quartets either.

Be that as it may, the sonics are excellent and the mix of Neeme and Paavo Järvi with the Gothenburg and Malmö orchestras are strong advocates of this music. Best of all, each CD contains between 75-79 minutes of music, so there is no stinginess here.

Work
Symphony 1 (52.56)
Symphony 2 (42.37)
Piano Concerto 1 (45.50)
Piano Concerto 2 (28.43)
Serenade for Orchestra (43.33)
Snöfrid (21.29)
Lodolezzi Suite (17.50)
Two Sentimental Romances (12.42)
Midvinter (12.25)
Excelsior! (12.10)
Florez and Blanzeflor (8.19)
Sången: Interlude (4.14)

Soloists
Love Derwinger, piano
Cristina Ortiz, piano
Ulf Wallin, violin
Peter Mattei, baritone

Performers
Malmö Symphony Orchestra
   Paavo Järvi, conductor
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
   Neeme Järvi, conductor

Label: BIS
Year: 1982-1992 / 1994
Total Timing: 5.08.26

 

 

 

An excellent set to get to know the orchestral music of Stenhammar.

While there are now competitive recordings of the Symphonies and Piano Concertos, the fill-ups still make this set an easy choice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find more Stenhammar recordings HERE!