Alfven: Orkestersviter Ur Musik Till Filmer

Hugo Alfven (Composer), Hanns Peter Frank (Conductor), Harry Damgaard (Conductor), Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sterling
• ASIN: B000K1F7RK
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #780,441 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

1-6.en bygdesaga op.53 suite from the music to"mans kvinna" 7-10.synnove solbakken op.50 suite from the music to "synnove solbakken

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Short measure, but the performances are better than the Naxos ones, March 14, 2009

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G.D. (Norway) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Alfven: Orkestersviter Ur Musik Till Filmer (Audio CD)

With their two volumes of Alfvén cantatas, Sterling has done fans of the composer a huge service, and this volume of film music is only marginally less interesting (were it not for the fact that Naxos has issued a directly competing disc). Neither of the movies, Synnöve Solbakken and Mans Kvinna (En Bygdesaga) has managed to survive, but Alfvén's atmospheric and evocative scores are able to stand on their own. Synnöve Solbakken, based on an in Norway famous novel by Bjørnson, incorporates both Norwegian and Swedish folk music, and the most interesting movements are the inventively scored Grief-Pastorale and the haunting Längtan.

It is, however, En Bygdesaga that contains the more striking music overall, being dark, stirring, passionate and even violent. Alfvén's had some really memorable ideas for this score, and he develops them in always interesting ways, especially the move from the fiery, surprisingly dissonant sections to bleak chorale-like music in "Guilty Love" and "Dreams". But the most hauntingly memorable section is the final one, "Wolf's Baying", portraying the main characters' ostracism and flight with music that in a masterly way captures both the darkness, fear and desolation on the one hand, and how it is mixed with joy and final freedom on the other.

Performances are divided between the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra under Hans Peter Frank and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra under Harry Damgaard, and both orchestras and conductors provide idiomatic, passionate readings. There is an alternative with the Norrköping players under Willén on Naxos, which includes some fifteen extra minutes of the Synnöve Solbakken music and couples the two suites with the Elégie for Emil Sjögren (the Sterling issue is rather short measure), and the extra music will surely attract some of those interested in the music. I find the Sterling playing overall somewhat more involved (they are consistently a little bit faster as well), however, and the fifteen extra minutes of music isn't really among the most interesting parts of the score. Sound quality is a little recessed, but perfectly fine (recordings date from the seventies). The Naxos recording is of course digital and more up front, but slightly lifeless and artificial in comparison. A tough call, but at least I can give this disc a safe recommendation.