Classical Music

Classical Music

Alpha and omega, beginning and end: these two works, his First and Seventh symphonies, bracket his compositions. + In the ensuing 25 years six other symphonies emerged, and their characteristic tonal colorings, austere Nordic temperament and innovative formal conception carved out a place for Jean Sibelius. + In recognition of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius, the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra and principal conductor Paul Mägi held concerts during which these two symphonies were performed and recorded live for this CD release on the Swedish Society/Naxos label. + This album follows on a previously released CD on the same label featuring the composer’s Third and Fourth symphonies, with the Fourth not only demarking the middle point of Sibelius’s symphony output but also his finest, most well known and most somber work of its kind.

It's traditional, and brand new!It is bound, and free! It's heavy, and easy! It is music that goes in through your ears but does not stay in your head, or even your heart without rushing right into your feet and setting your musical world rocking. Get ready for a magical encounter between G�vle Symphony Orchestra and national fiddler G�rgen Antonsson - with music arranged by Karl-Johan Ankarblom.

Flutist Anders Hagberg and Johannes Landgren present this new release of traditional Swedish works. The artists write of the album: "We are two musicians from different musical backgrounds who both use improvisation as an expressive tool. For this album, we chose music with foundational, archetypal melodies: Swedish folk chorales, Gregorian chant and simple ballads. Our collaboration is characterized by exploratory encounters between traditions, genres, approaches to improvisation, and instrumental timbres, which we combine within unexpected melodic contexts. Anders Hagberg's artistic research on musical states, sound and silence has influenced our music. In particular, the tension between silence and sound became a central feature of this project. Music breathes- in space."

A live recording togeteher with Uppsala Chamber Orchestra, violinist Nils-Erik Sparf and conductor Paul Mägi, from a concert in the Uppsala Concert & Congress in May 2010, published in the autumn 2016 at Swedish Society/Naxos. To perform the Brahms Violin Concerto with "their" own orchestra was a favorite project for violinist Nils-Erik Sparf, a concert that he lived with for many years. "It is a privilege to take this favorite romantic concerts in his hand," says Nils-Erik Sparf.Sparf comes from a musician's family in Rättvik, Dalarna. His father, Sparf-Anders, was a strong profile and renowned fiddler. Both folk and classical music played in the home. Since childhood listened Nils-Erik often the Brahms violin concerto by contemporary masters such as Oistrach, Heifetz or Schneiderhan.His musical through and touching performance in unique interpretations has resulted in a series of awards and prizes. In January 2004, he received the medal "litteris et artibus" from King Carl XVI Gustaf's hand and in November 2013 the Royal Swedish Academy Interpretpris.Nils-Erik Sparf employee of Music in Uppland as concert master in Uppsala Chamber Orchestra and as a member of the Uppsala Chamber Soloists. He has been concertmaster of the Royal Opera and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and is represented on numerous recordings. 2013 was Mozart's five violin concertos out with Sparf as soloist and leader of the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Malin Bystr�m is a Swedish soprano, trained at the University College of Opera in Stockholm. She has been coached by Jonathan Morris since 1997 and collaborates with him, still to this day. In 2016 Malin Bystr�m received the Litteris et Artibus medal and in 2018 she was appointed Hovs�gerska (Court Singer) by H.M. The King. She was named Female Singer of the Year in the 2018 International Opera Awards. Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, HSO, was founded in 1912. The conductor was Olof Lidner, who led the orchestra up to 1939 when the charismatic Sten Frykberg took over the baton and kept it until 1945. In 1990 the Finn Okku Kamu was engaged, who for nine years significantly developed the orchestra, and in 2005 the British conductor and violinist Andrew Manze arrived and stayed until 2013, whereupon Stefan Solyom took over the role of head conductor. The Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra is today of a very high international quality. The orchestra consists of approximately 60 musicians and is guested by conductors and soloists with the world as their workplace. A number of awards have been bestowed on it for various recordings. Solyom is a Swedish conductor and composer. He studied horn and conducting at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm and the Sibelius Academy. His conducting teachers included Jorma Panula and Leif Segerstam and was a prizewinner in the 2000 International Sibelius Conducting Competition. In 2005, Solyom conducted the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, substituting on short notice for another conductor and subsequently became Associate Guest Conductor of the orchestra one year later. In 2009, Solyom became Generalmusikdirektor of the Deutsches Nationaltheater and Staatskapelle Weimar. In 2013, Solyom was appointed Chief Conductor of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra.

Tobias Brostr�m was born in 1978 in Helsingborg, Sweden. Following four years of percussion studies at the Malm� Academy of Music, he embarked on the pursuit of a Master's degree in composition, studying with the Swedish composer Rolf Martinsson and the Italian composer Luca Francesconi. Brostr�m has composed chamber opera and various chamber music, but during the last years he has mainly focused on orchestral writing. Between 2006 - 2009 Tobias was Composer-in-Residence with the G�vle Symphony Orchestra under principal conductor Robin Ticciati, resulting in two new orchestral works each year. During season 2011 - 2012 Tobias was featured composer with Helsingborg SO as well as with V�ster�s Sinfonietta. The present release features a selection of Brostr�m's orchestral pieces, performed by the Malmo Symphony Orchestra.

Linn�kvintetten has since 1986 been a dynamic element in the Swedish music scene. Ever since it's inception, the ensemble has gone in to renew the Swedish repertoire for brass quintet, which meant about 40 premieres of Swedish music. On this release of joyful and evocative music associated with Advent and Christmas in Sweden the listener will find 16th c. variations on the hymn 'There is a rose in flower' alongside carols, hymns and a new Swedish 'classic', the theme-music from the TV-program 'Karl-Bertil Jonssons Christmas'. Recorded in Hagby church February 2013 during a howling blizzard.

Mozart's five Violin Concertos are each lovely and endearing works, with the fourth and fifth being acknowledged masterpieces of the genre.Veteran violinist Nils-Erik Sparf inhabits the dual role of solo performer and conductor of the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra on this two-disc set of Mozart's complete Violin Concertos. Current concertmaster of the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra and principal violinist of the Uppsala Chamber Soloists, Mr. Sparf has garnered a number of distinctions and awards for his unique interpretations and has made a great number of CD recordings.

The seventh release in the series of live concert recordings featuring the Uppsala Chamber Orchestra under conductor Paul M�gi presents a program of popular and well-known overtures by Gioacchino Rossini, including those from the opera La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie), William Tell, Tancredi and Il turco in Italia.Estonian conductor Paul M�gi has had a long and successful career as conductor and artistic leader of several prominent Baltic state ensembles.Appointed chief conductor of Uppsala Chamber Orchestra in 2004, Mr. M�gi is also a much-in-demand opera conductor.

The octet music on Around the Christmas Tree, related to Christmas, New Year and midwinter, is taken from handwritten sheet music for Swedish octets from the 1860s till the early 20th c. The music takes you to midwinter outdoor and indoor activities and entertainments, from the Oscar ball on 1 December to Knut's Day on 13 January. Here is both well-known music that we usually associate with midwinter, Christmas and New Year. The Octet Ehnstedts Eftr. Has also found some old music that has fallen into oblivion but well worth recording, including several numbers that have never been recorded before.

Classical Music