Allan Pettersson - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 (Christian Lindberg)

Information

Composer: Allan Pettersson

1. Symphony No. 1
2. Symphony No. 2

Norrköping Symphony Orchestra

Christian Lindberg, conductor

Date: 2011

Label: BIS

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Review

The mystery of Allan Pettersson’s First Symphony has long intrigued devotees of his music. Composed mostly in 1951, the score was never completed, set aside for No 2 (1952‑53), returned to fitfully in the 1950s and subsequently left a 136‑page double-barred rump, more fragmentary even than Schubert’s Seventh, with a 16‑bar hiatus in the centre. Even CPO’s complete symphonies set (4/07) omitted No 1 – a score Pettersson refused permission to be examined and his widow to allow to be played.

But played it now has been, in a fascinating ‘performing edition’ prepared by Christian Lindberg, whose affinity with Pettersson’s idiom is manifest with each succeeding recording, aided by Truls Nilsson and Ulf Blomqvist. Lindberg determined to add no extraneous material but fix on a specific version of the score and present it, lacunae, warts and all, to an audience and let them fill in the blanks. It is a striking approach which would not work with every unfinished piece but here succeeds remarkably well. The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, who have a fine Pettersson tradition (I recall a magnificent No 6 under Okko Kamu on CBS Masterworks), play with total concentration and commitment. David Lindberg’s hugely informative film on the bonus DVD is a model of a truly musical documentary.

The Second Symphony receives a fine performance, more vividly caught than on Alun Francis’s for CPO, though in truth there is little to choose between them. Stig Westerberg’s pioneering 1966 account is five minutes faster and benefits from his tauter direction but BIS’s sound is much the finer. The Third Concerto (1956‑57) is built on an even larger scale and is one of his deepest utterances, an extraordinary structure with two substantial outer movements framing an extraordinary Mesto (which can be played independently; a recording was reissued coupled with Westerberg’s account of No 2 on Swedish Society Discofil in 1992). Even more gripping than its two predecessors (9/09), it carves its way through the best part of an hour in compelling fashion in this flawlessly presented recording.

— Guy Rickards

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Allan Pettersson (19 September 1911 – 20 June 1980) was a Swedish composer and violist. He is considered one of the 20th century's most important Swedish composers. He studied at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music, and later in Paris with René Leibowitz, Arthur Honegger, Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud. Pettersson was best known as the creator of Barfotasånger, a collection of 24 songs for voice and piano set to his own lyrics. He also wrote 16 symphonies, choral and chamber music, and a number of orchestral pieces. His symphonies are often compared to Mahler's symphonic output.

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Christian Lindberg (born 15 February 1958) is a Swedish trombonist, conductor and composer. In the course of an exceptional career, Lindberg has single-handedly established the trombone as a solo instrument and was the first Swedish instrumentalist to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO). Today he devotes most of his time to composing, with commissions from ensembles such as the CSO and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. Lindberg also has a flourishing conducting career. His acclaimed and wide-ranging discography on BIS includes more than 50 CDs.

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