Nordic Symphonies

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From the outset of his career, Jean Sibelius was recognized as an outstanding representative of a musical language perceived as typically Finnish. In Finland, the...

From the outset of his career, Jean Sibelius was recognized as an outstanding representative of a musical language perceived as typically Finnish. In Finland, the dawn of the 20th century saw a veritable outbreak of nationally inspired artistic activities., It was a time of cultural and national self-discovery for Sibelius, too. He allowed himself be stimulated by the whole of Finland’s folklore tradition, without resorting to specific examples of folksong.

For many years, Carl Nielsen was viewed outside his native Denmark as the poor cousin of his more famous Scandinavian counterparts, Grieg and Sibelius. Yet his achievements as Denmark’s greatest symphonist of the 20th century were, if anything, even more remarkable than the successes of his geographical neighbors. Nielsen’s symphonic output is some of the most remarkable of its time.

The Norwegian conductor and composer Johann Svendsen was born in 1840 in Christiania (now Oslo). in 1867, he finished his Symphony No. 1, a work that Grieg later described as showing scintillating genius, superb national feeling and really brilliant handling of an orchestra. In 1872 Svendsen returned to Christiania beginning a fruitful period that saw the creation of his Symphony No. 2 in B flat major Op. 15.

Hugo Alfven's First Symphony (1897) has a melancholy Sturm und Drang mood that recurs at intervals in his later compositions, but there is also a life affirming side that flourished in his Second Symphony, two years later. Of his Third Symphony, he stated "it depicts neither concrete nor abstract. It is an expression of the joy of living, an expression of the sun-lit happiness that filled my whole being.”

Wilhelm Stenhammar's Symphony Op. 34  saw the light of day in 1907, dedicating it to “my dear friends, the members of the Goteborg Symphony Orchestra.” He was to remain its chief conductor until 1922. That symphony, which had its first performance under the composer’s direction in 1915, was in fact Stenhammar’s second and is today called Symphony No. 2, even if the composer himself never gave it that number.

Edvard Grieg’s Symphony in C minor, which the composer withdrew, saw scholar after scholar writing about it disparagingly, with much discussion of the its style, all too often based on the question: what are its unoriginal or unsuccessful features? But it was Grieg himself who began the tradition with his admonition that it “must never be performed”. Now, however, very few feel, on moral grounds, that the work should not be performed.



Product Description:


  • Release Date: February 16, 2024


  • UPC: 5028421969367


  • Catalog Number: BRI96936


  • Label: Brilliant Classics


  • Number of Discs: 10


  • Composer: Hugo Alfven, Edvard Hagerup Grieg, Carl Nielsen, Jean Sibelius, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Johan Svendsen


  • Conductor: Kurt Sanderling, Theodore Kuchar, Bjarte Engeset, Niklas Willen, Peter Sundkvist


  • Orchestra/Ensemble: Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester, Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Malmo Symphony Orchestra


  • Performer: Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester, Royal S



Works:


  1. Symphonies Nos. 1-7

    Composer: Jean Sibelius

    Ensemble: Berlin Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Kurt Sanderling


  2. En saga, Op. 9

    Composer: Jean Sibelius

    Ensemble: Berlin Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Kurt Sanderling


  3. Finlandia, Op. 26

    Composer: Jean Sibelius

    Ensemble: Berlin Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Kurt Sanderling


  4. Night Ride and Sunrise Op.55

    Composer: Jean Sibelius

    Ensemble: Berlin Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Kurt Sanderling


  5. Symphonies Nos. 1-6

    Composer: Carl Nielsen

    Ensemble: Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra

    Conductor: Theodore Kuchar


  6. Symphonies Nos. 1-2

    Composer: Johan Svendsen

    Ensemble: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Bjarte Engeset


  7. Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 7

    Composer: Hugo Alfvén

    Ensemble: Royal Scottish National Orchestra

    Conductor: Niklas Willén


  8. Symphony No. 3 in E, Op. 23

    Composer: Hugo Alfvén

    Ensemble: Royal Scottish National Orchestra

    Conductor: Niklas Willén


  9. Symphony No. 2, Op. 34

    Composer: Wilhelm Stenhammer

    Ensemble: Royal Scottish National Orchestra

    Conductor: Petter Sundkvist


  10. Symphony in C minor

    Composer: Edvard Grieg

    Ensemble: Malmö Symphony Orchestra

    Conductor: Bjarte Engeset