The second solo album from Swedish jazz bassist & cellist Svante Söderqvist. Intimate and atmostpheric jazz that deals with the deep questions of life and coexistense.

Organist and musicologist Jonas Lundblad explores the rich repertoire of Late Romantic music in the borderland between the organ and the orchestral sound scape, with both arrangements and original works of Swedish music from the early 20th century.

Field recordings of authentic Bosnian folk music; gathered by Swedish composer Folke Rabe; here paired with his monumental orchestral work "So That This Song Shall Not Die"; based on the varied melodies & expressions he found there.

Debutants Ljus och lykta (meaning "Light and lantern") is a fresh breath of air on the Swedish music scene. A versatile musical experience, Ljus och lykta performs all kinds of traditional Swedish songs - ballads, love songs, shanties and more. While their music is firmly rooted in the Scandinavian tradition, Ljus och lykta also finds inspiration in other musical genres, such as bluegrass and British folk. At the core of the Ljus och lykta sound, we find the crisp, edgy voices of Klara von Huth and Annika Hammer. Vega Nordkvist’s forceful fiddling and Anton Larsson’s groovy guitar provide a steady backbone for the intertwining voices.

WIRÉN Concert Overture No. 2. 1 Serenade for String Orchestra. 2 Ironiska småstycken (Ironic pieces) for Piano. 4 Piano Sonatina. 5 Miniature Suite for Violin & Piano. 6 Cello Sonatina. 9 Cello Concerto. 3,9 Sinfonietta 4,8 • 1 Tor Mann, 2 Sixten Eckerberg, 3 Sixten Ehrling, cond; 1 Stockholm R O; 2 Gothenberg S O; 4 Camilla Kinberg; 5 Stig Ribbing (pn); 6 Sven Karpe (vn); Dag Wirén ( 6 pn, 8 cond); 9 Maurice Maréchal (vc); 9 Harry Ebert (pn); 3 Gustav Gröndahl (vc) • CAPRICE 21761, mono (79:47)


Arné Wirén was a Swedish bass who recorded with (among others) Hjördis Schymberg, Bette Björling, and Erik Sædén. This Wirén’s first name was Dag (1905-1986), and I was rather relieved to discover online that he “is not widely known outside his native Sweden, though his music began gaining notice internationally on recordings in the decade following his death. His first serious compositions date to the 1930s and divulge a neo-Classicism tinged by a Romantic warmth.” So if this is your introduction to Dag Wirén, as it was mine, there’s the skinny on him.


This disc, titled Vintage Wirén, presents what are possibly the first recordings of these pieces. I say “possibly” because of the obscurity of these recordings in the West, and the fact that the liner notes don’t volunteer this information. (Whatever happened to the days when record companies told you EVERYTHING—whether or not the recordings were first versions or not, whether or not they’ve ever been on LP and/or CD before, who the performers are, etc.? This is the bane of modern record collecting, and reviewing. Modern-day record labels generally tell you very little or nothing.) This CD was initially reviewed by James A. Altena in Fanfare 33:6, and I am indebted to him for explaining that “Tonsåttaren,” who is listed as the pianist in the Miniature Suite and conductor of the Sinfonietta, is the composer himself.


What one hears on this disc are light but well-crafted works of the style I tend to call “popular neo-Classic.” The “Andante espressivo” of the Serenade for String Orchestra, for instance, strongly resembles the contemporary work of young Sam Barber or Copland in his popular phase, although the entire serenade shows the influence of both Stenhammar and of Prokofiev’s “Classical” Symphony. This is not a bad thing, and Wirén very obviously had a sense of humor, as his music practically bristles with it. The notes claim this the single most popular contemporary Swedish classical piece in existence, though later on in the notes they explain that it wasn’t issued in its entirely until 1949, nine years after it was recorded.


The Ironic Pieces for piano also runs in the Prokofiev vein, although Wirén purposely avoids some of the spikier harmonies of that style. Camilla Kinberg plays them with tremendous drive, finesses, and—yes—humor, particularly in the “Promenade” which starts and ends with a light tread but, in the middle, stomps around noisily with solid whacking notes in the bass.


The problem I had with the piano Sonatina was not the quality of the music, which was fine, but the condition of the records. All of these seem to have been pressed off-center, which causes the phenomenon known as a “swinging copy.” This, in turn, makes the pitch constantly fluctuate. What’s so annoying is that this is an easily correctable flaw: just get a turntable with a removable spindle. Put the record on the turntable with the spindle in, then remove it and start playing it at a slower speed (like 33 rpm). Watch how the grooves “swing,” and then very gently tap the edge of the disc with your fingernail until it looks more centered and regular. It works every time.


The Miniature Suite for Violin and Piano starts with a fairly innocuous, 49-second opening, but the Adagio is considerably interesting and moody. The remaining movements, though brief and lighthearted, are a bit less humorous or frivolous. So, too, is the Cello Sonatina, played well by Maréchal and pianist Ebert, who at this time (1940) was the regular accompanist for tenor Jussi Björling. My one complaint about this piece was that it seemed to be recorded rather distantly.


Even better, as both a piece and as a recording, is the Cello Concerto, though the soloist (Gröndahl) is not as secure in his bowing or intonation as Maréchal. On the other hand Sixten Ehrling, heard here in a very early recorded example of his work, shows why he was considered one of Sweden’s better conductors. This work’s moody, more serious quality reveals Wirén to have been a fine composer who might have developed more seriously had his beloved “Serenade” not taken over the imagination of the public. He creates a fine feeling of suspense in the “call-and-response” style of the concerto, and at roughly 16 minutes it does not overstay its welcome.


The transfers are, for the most part, masterfully done. Remastering engineer Marie Wisén (if I translate the word “Redaktör” correctly) has removed all traces of record sound, leaving just the music to be savored without damaging the quality of the string tone, always a hazardous operation. My only complaint is that she did not then boost the treble to restore some of the upper frequencies, which makes these recordings sound muffled. I was able to obtain good quality sound, however, by turning the treble control on my amplifier all the way up. Otherwise, recommended.


FANFARE: Lynn René Bayley

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

In Södling Sessions, three of Sweden's most well-known folk musicians meet: Ulrika Gunnarsson, Mia Marin and Tina Quartey. With an unusual instrument combination - voice, violin, and percussion - the trio approaches the peculiar Småland folk music composer Carl-Erik Södling's collection: beautiful songs, swinging songs, exciting ballads and witty folk tunes in a new musical arrangement. Carl-Erik Södling (1819 -1884) is a fascinating original in Swedish folk music history. He was a skilled collector of songs with an eye for the small details in the music. Södling was active as music and gymnastics director in Västervik and for a period was an organist in Buenos Aires. Södling had grandiose ideas about the cultural-historical significance of Swedish folk music in Europe and South America. He was affiliated with the Royal Academy of Music, but his ideas were too wild to be published. His surviving manuscripts contain hundreds of songs and songs of great interest and value.

"Petrus de Dacia" was performed for the last time in the romantic St. Nicolai church ruin in Visby on the 10 August 1990, and under the trademark "Ruinspelet" was the Gotlandic summer vacation's musical highpoint for thousands of visitors from all over the world, for over 50 years. Even though the composer, conductor and director Friedrich Mehler, purely on a confessional basis, avoided the operatic label on his artistic life's works, it can now, 30 years after the originator's death and 753 performances, surely be considered the most performed Swedish opera of all time.

During the last 25 years at the Gothenburg Opera, the opera genre has almost become indispensable for the people of Gothenburg. However, this has not always been the case, as this documentation of its predecessor, the centenary AB Göteborgs Lyriska Teater, wants to remind us of, as well as its oldest history as a guest performance stage for more than six decades. About fifty once great, but today forgotten stage artists, who were born between 1860-1924 and who have all stood on the grand theatre's stage, show us in gramophone recordings and in Swedish Radio's live glimpses how to squeeze the essence of a Swedish text and make it carry over the edge without the support of microphones.