Alfven: Choral & Orchestral Recording Roundup

 

Today, I caught a few odds and ends from Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén. These cover choral music, orchestra overtures, and one wind-band piece.



Papillon

It wasn't too long ago I listened to two recording of choral music from Alfvén, one for men's chorus (BLOG) and another for mixed (BLOG). The composer conducted the Orphei Drängar, a male chorus based in Sweden, thus most of his choral output was meant for that voicing. Alfvén would go back and rearrange music for mixed chorus, thus this recording includes 20 songs for women's and men's voices.

The two recordings of mixed choral music dedicated to Alfvén both time around 45 - 50 minutes of music. They only share seven songs between the two, so both offer something the other doesn't have. The one from Gustav Sjökvist contains 24 songs, and is generally swifter.

This one from the Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble, led by their titular director, is also very good. They are perhaps recorded more upfront in their choral sound, but both ensembles handle Alfvén's music beautifully.

Festival Overture

Niklas Willén led a pioneering effort to get another recorded Alfvén symphony cycle, which thankfully included orchestral extras.

One difference between the Neeme Järvi set (BLOG) was the inclusion of two Festival Overtures.

Willén did not have the same orchestra throughout his set though, thus we have the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for op. 25 and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in op. 52.

Both are rousing occasional works, as one might expect. The RSNO plays the shorter, more combustible piece, featuring many brass fanfares. Iceland, on the other, is saddled with the ganglier overture, one which goes on for a solid 10 minutes. They handle the music well, and it is a colorful later piece from Alfvén, but the music is decidedly too long.

To hear both, one must go through Naxos' full symphony set, or find the volumes with Symphony no. 1 and Symphony no. 4, to which these pieces are attached to those programs separately. The cover art is certainly a lot of fun!

Festival Overture

If you didn't believe another Festival Overture could be added to Alfvén's oeuvre, think again. This one, however, was written for wind band.

Fanfares and marches are what I remember from op. 26, music chock full of pomp and strut.

Of course, the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra is an excellent ensemble and has had many recordings featured on Chandos, here under Clark Rundell.

Recording Round-up

Papillon
  Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble
  Eric Westberg, conductor
  Discofil, 2022

Festival Overture, op. 25
  Royal Scottish National Orchestra
  Niklas Willén, conductor
  Naxos, 2004

Festival Overture, op. 26
  Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra
  Clark Rundell, conductor
  Chandos, 2003

Festival Overture, op. 52
  Iceland Symphony Orchestra
  Niklas Willén, conductor
  Naxos, 2005