Ture Rangström - Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 (Michail Jurowski)

Information

Composer: Ture Rangström

• Symphony No. 3 in D flat major "Sång under stjärnorna"
• Symphony No. 4 "Invocatio"

Norrköping Symphony Orchestra

Michail Jurowski, conductor

Date: 1996

Label: CPO

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Review

Rangström during his day was considered to belong to the young generation of Swedish composers of around 1910 who tried to introduce modernism into their music, and something of this spirit of discovery lies within these pieces. His music comes as something of a revelation: powerful, sweeping and ecstatic are all words that could be used to describe it. Sibelius considered Rangström 'head and shoulders above any other Swedish composer' and, on the evidence of this CPO set, one can see why.

All of the three discs of this set have been available singly. The advocacy of the Norköping Symphony Orchestra under Jurowski is no mean bonus. They play with tremendous conviction.

CPO chose to preface the First Symphony with Dithyramb of 1909, a hyper-romantic 'work of protest' which is bold, daring and challenging in its gestures. Rangström paints his canvas with long brush strokes and an unerring sense of confidence. The First Symphony of five years later continues in the same vein. It is full of big contrasts, from late-Romantic splurge to the most transparent delicacy, taking in a manic scherzo (subtitled Trollruna) on the way. The much later Spring Hymn (1942) rounds off the first disc. Also dedicated to Strindberg, it comes as peaceful balm after the heroic last movement of the symphony.

The patriotic Second Symphony opens very much like a Scandinavian Vaughan Williams. The Norköping orchestra captures the drama of the first movement well, and throughout one is astounded at the many felicitous touches of scoring. The coupling for this disc is the Intermezzo drammatico, and Orientally influenced piece with a Notturno movement of magically veiled half-lights.

Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 fit well onto the final disc. The Fourth (whose organ part, played here by Mark Fahlsjö, adds a real sense of grandeur) is a most impressive piece. The shadowy, macabre slow waltz of the Intermezzo (marked sotto voce) is just one example of Rangström's fertile invention. The slow movement is touching without ever being cloying.

I have deliberately given the Third Symphony the last word in this review. It is the only of Rangström's symphonies in one movement, and this seems to free his imagination to heights only hinted at in the other pieces in this set. The atmosphere is fantastical and expressionistic, both in harmonic direction and in instrumentation. At times explosive, sometimes just plain manic, always striving towards a Wagnerian scale of intent, its content belies its 22-minute duration and leaves the most powerful of impressions. A stunning piece.

Throughout the recording is crystal clear. The playing is exemplary. For anyone remotely inquisitive about this truly individual Scandinavian symphonist, this set is an essential purchase.

— Colin Clarke

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Ture Rangström (30 November 1884 – 11 May 1947) was a Swedish composer, music critic and conductor. Born in Stockholm, he studied with Hans Pfitzner in Berlin and Julius Hey in Munich. His early works were symphonic poems, including Dityramb (1909), Ett midsommarstycke (1910) and En höstsång (1911). Rangström later composed four symphonies, three operas—notably Gilgamesj (1944)—and nearly 300 songs, many of which he orchestrated. He was also a founding member of the Swedish Society of Composers and served as principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra from 1922 to 1925.

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Michail Jurowski (25 December 1945 – 19 March 2022) was a Russian conductor who based in Germany for most of his career. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory and began his career as an assistant to Gennady Rozhdestvensky at the Moscow Radio Symphony. After relocating to Germany in 1989, he held leading positions with several orchestras, such as the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie (1992–98), the Leipzig Opera (1999–2001), and the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln (2006–08). Jurowski made many first recordings of rarely performed music by Rangström, Peterson-Berger, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, among others.

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