Helena Munktell - Orchestral Works (Tobias Ringborg)

Information

Composer: Helena Munktell

• Bränningar (Breaking Waves). Symphonic Picture, Op. 19
• Suite for Large Orchestra
• Valborgsmessoeld (Walpurgisfire). Poem, Op. 24
• Suite dalécarlienne (Dala Suite)

Gävle Symphony Orchestra

Tobias Ringborg, conductor

Date: 2005

Label: Sterling

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Review

Sterling return to home ground to proffer the music of another of the largely unknown Swedish romantics. No doubt they would be unable to do this without the enlightened financial support of the Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs. This must anyway have been an expensive project - they even lavished seven days of the orchestra's rehearsal time on getting the best results.

Munktell's life story is told in considerable detail by Anna Jerregard Skarby. The key facts are that she was born into an affluent family with a predilection for matters musical. She was widely travelled, taking in tours to Italy, Vienna and Paris. Her teachers included Vincent d'Indy - noticeable in the romantic spirit that suffuses her music. Benjamin Godard was also one of her mentors. Her compositions were played during the 1890s in both Paris and Sweden. She was a woman of religious conviction, assured in her belief that her gift came from God. She had a weak heart and also suffered from eye disease. She died in Stockholm.

The music is delicate and romantic and, in the case of the suites, unsurprisingly folksy, taking a flavouring from the Alfvén rhapsodies. The 1895 Suite for large orchestra recalls the suites by Ludolf Nielsen but blended with an at times very strong Gallic sighing elegance. Try the finale of the Suite where Weber's Euryanthe and Oberon play catch-as-catch-can with Franckian gestures. The Walpurgisfire has that idyllic-ecstatic generosity of lyricism and luxuriously long pace that may be familiar to you if you know - as you should - Louis Glass's Fifth Symphony. This personifies a warm Scandinavian evening caught in a sleepy and honeyed Delian flux. It is more poetic than dramatic so do not expect cliff-edge derring-do. The lambent finale grades away into a softened glow. Some rare atmospheric playing here from the Gävle orchestra.

The Dala Suite is more polished and well-rounded than the Suite for Large Orchestra but has the same rustic accoutrements and a triumphant finale. Breaking Waves is a Wagnerian tone poem but with a similarly idyllic caste. Yes, the waves crash along the shore but the mind's eye tracks out past the breakers to the murmuring miles beyond the reefs and skerries - a romantic eternity. The impressionism is real and the composer is much better disposed towards intense mood-painting than say Hakon Børresen in his Sea Symphony. This is more Nystroem and late Alfvén than Rubinstein or Raff.

These are expansive luxuriant performances of music that has similar qualities. Even so it might occasionally have benefited from a tauter and more steely grip. The recording is well handled with the bass spectrum finely captured and with a very natural effect.

A pleasure to meet such agreeable music and a treat for those preferring pastoral luxuriance.

— Rob Barnett

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Helena Munktell (24 November 1852 – 10 September 1919) was a Swedish composer. Born into an artistic family in Grycksbo, she studied music at the Stockholm Conservatory, then in Vienna with Julius Epstein, and in Paris with Benjamin Godard. Munktell was an active participant in Parisian musical scene. Her music blends French Romantism and Impressionism with Swedish folk music. She composed in a variety of genres, including orchestral, choral and chamber music, as well as art songs. Munktell was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and a founder of the Swedish Society of Composers.

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Tobias Ringborg (born 2 November 1973 in Stockholm) is a Swedish violinist and conductor. He graduated from the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm, then furthered his studies with teachers such as Herman Krebbers, Igor Oistrakh and Lewis Kaplan at the Juilliard School. Ringborg has performed with all major Swedish orchestras and collaborated with esteemed conductors such as Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Neeme Järvi. In 2001 he made his debut as a conductor at Folkoperan, Stockholm. A passionate advocate for Swedish music, Ringborg has recorded many works by Swedish composers.

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