Kurt Atterberg - Piano Quintet; Suite No. 1; Horn Sonata (Various Artists)

Information

Composer: Kurt Atterberg

• Piano Quintet in C major, Op 31a (adaption from Symphony No. 6)
• Suite No. 1 "Orientale", for piano, 2 violins & cello
• Sonata in B minor for horn & piano, Op. 27

Ilona Prunyi, piano

András Kiss, violin

Ferenc Balogh, violin

György Kertész, cello

Imre Magyari, horn

New Budapest Quartet

Date: 1993

Label: Marco Polo

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Review

This disc is not quite what it appears to be at first glance. Although all three works sound like originals, those who know their Atterberg will recognize Op. 31 as the infamous Dollar Symphony (1927–8), which won the Columbia Graphophone Company's Schubert Centenary Competition in 1928, Op. 27 (1925) as the sonata designed for a single string instrument (violin, viola or cello) with piano accompaniment, whilst the Oriental Suite is the first of several for orchestra that Atterberg composed throughout his career. This reduction of the sixth of a his nine symphonies was made in 1942. Robbed of the original's scintillating orchestration, the music bears up well within the more severe chamber medium as a work full of character and charm. The more impressionistic Oriental Suite was arranged at about the same time as the Quintet and derives from incidental music written in 1913. The unusual disposition of piano, two violins and cello lends the music a peculiar brightness of timbre.

The Horn Sonata was transcribed in 1955 and is perhaps the happiest of all the arrangements recorded here. Atterberg's language was never radical and his late romantic idiom was well-suited to the potentialities of the horn (for which he wrote a concerto in 1926). The Hungarian performers make out a good case for all three works, with plenty of commitment evident. The CD back cover gives Atterberg's dates erroneously as 1837–1914, although the booklet inside is correct: 1887–1974.

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Kurt Atterberg (12 December 1887 – 15 February 1974) was a Swedish composer and civil engineer. Born in Gothenburg, he studied composition at the Stockholm Conservatory and earned an engineering degree from the Royal Institute of Technology. Atterberg composed nine symphonies, six concertante works, five operas, and two ballets, all in a late Romantic style. In addition to composing, he also served also as a conductor, critic and administrator. After the end of World War II, Atterberg was accused of being a Nazi sympathizer, which resulted in him being isolated and ignored by younger composers and writers.

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