Allan Pettersson: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 15 [Import]

Allan Pettersson (Composer), Leif Segerstam (Conductor), Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Leif Segerstam
• Composer: Allan Pettersson
• Audio CD (July 18, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Bis
• ASIN: B0000016LE
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #529,552 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I. Introduzione (Andante Con Moto) - Allegro Con Moto

2. II. Largo Con Espressione - Attacca -

3. III. Allegro Comodo - Allegro Deciso - Attacca -

4. IV. Allegro Con Moto (Tempo Di Prima Parte)

5. Symphony No. 15

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pettersson 15th: an absolute masterpiece, June 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Allan Pettersson: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 15 (Audio CD)

I have listened all the Pettersson's symphonies: but the first I listened, the 15th, is peraphs the only one, for me, to present a characterization of absolute masterpiece. The symphonic language of Pettersson is not "thematic", where you can recognize a thematic line the music provides often to take you elsewhere. But here try to believe in the melodic refrains, such as desperate links with human capability to still "feel" something upon the rhythmical outburst of adversities; you'll have experience of an incredible depth of musical conception, in his phonosymbolic power and evocation. This is the better recording of the symphony, in my opinion. Roberto Ranieri

3.0 out of 5 stars Pettersson's typical turmoil of the soul, January 21, 2009

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Allan Pettersson: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 15 (Audio CD)

Allan Pettersson occupies a strange position among 20th century composers. This Swedish violinist, crippled by arthritis, turned out a limited number of works dominated by 15 symphonies. His orchestral writing inherits the tonal Nordic tradition, but the orchestral fabric is densely packed with polytonal lines. The mood is invariably grim, with catastrophes constantly succeeding themselves, and light never really shines through the darkness. Petterson is a cult figure, whose music is rarely performed and whose memory is kept alive by a small but fervent group of fans.

The two symphonies here are from opposite ends of his career. Though they share the same general mood as everything else he wrote, one notices a difference in the writing. The Symphony No. 3 (1954-55) shows the composer still very much in the Sibelian tradition, with Pettersson's perennial thick textures alternating with more austere ones reminiscent of Sibelius' Fourth. Here there's a multi-movement form that Pettersson was soon to abandon. The single-movement Symphony No. 15 (1978), the composer's last and premiered after his death, shows us someone who has fully mastered orchestration and who pushes the amount of polyphony almost to the very border of noise, though remarkably keeping everything "tonal".

I've previously heard the BIS disc containing Pettersson's Seventh and Eleventh, and the music here is often indistinguishable from there. If you like Shostakovich because you think his music tells the story of some struggle of the human soul against adversity, then Allan Pettersson's music is very likely to appeal to you. For those, however, who expect music to show them something they've never knew before, then the invarying mood of this composer's output is probably going to annoy, as capable an orchestrator he was. Give a BIS disc containing some of his symphonies a try, and decide whether this figure is for you.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WHO IS GUSTAF ALLAN PETTERSSON?, August 19, 2002

By 

Duane E. Crawford (Rolette, ND USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Allan Pettersson: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 15 (Audio CD)

Before I went to a Pederson Reunion in SD, I ordered Symphony 3 and 15 by Pettersson because I wanted something for the family and Segerstam had conducted it. It took Arkiv finally to come up with it. Pettersson I find was from a harsh family that he escaped from with the violin. He had arthritis so bad someone else had to sketch out many of his later concertos and symphonies, of which I believe there were sixteen symphonies. I greatly prefer three to fifteen. Like Sibelius Pettersson starts with motifs that he finally brings into coherence. Fifteen is too harsh for my eardrums. I'd like to try some of the [$$$] Pettersson symphonies. Segerstam's THOUGHTS I found to be pretty fair. In my country fair means good; we never say excellent.