Wilhelm Stenhammar - Piano Music (Martin Sturfält)

Information

Composer: Wilhelm Stenhammar

• Piano Sonata in G minor
• Nights of Late Summer (Sensommarnätter), Op. 33
• Three Fantasies, Op. 11
• Piano Sonata in A flat major, Op. 12

Martin Sturfält, piano

Date: 2008

Label: Hyperion

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Review

Stockholm-born Wilhelm Stenhammar was an enormously important musical figure in Sweden at the turn of the 19th century in making much contemporary music available to his compatriots both as a (very distinguished) pianist and as director of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Yet although his orchestral and concertante works are now quite well known, the music he wrote for his own instrument has, until recently, been unfamiliar. As a recitalist he seemed to value the music of others more than his own. He gave his splendid G minor Sonata (composed at 19) its premiere in May 1891 and then never played it again! Yet it is an ambitious, romantic work with an unforgettable main theme dominating its first movement, and in many ways it is an equivalent in its youthful ardour of the Brahms F minor work.

Stenhammar did, however, take the Three Fantasies, Op 11, of 1895 into his repertoire. They are Brahms-influenced, the first again boldly passionate, but the composer’s own personality comes through, notably so in the ingenious Dolce scherzando and the closing Molto espressivo. The five pieces which make up Nights of Late Summer are certainly atmospheric but not overtly descriptive: their feeling is personal and introspective, although the exception is the closing charming Poco allegretto, which has almost a whiff of Grieg. But the late A major Sonata (composed in the same year) is a highly individual work balancing serious, even sombre, lyricism with drama and closing with a vibrant unpredictable finale. Martin Sturfält suggests it has an affinity with Beethoven.

He plays all this music with powerful feeling and understanding, and great spontaneity – as at a live recital – and the recording (produced by Andrew Keener) is very real indeed. This is a disc well worth exploring.

— Ivan March

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Wilhelm Stenhammar (February 7, 1871 – November 20, 1927) was a Swedish composer, conductor and pianist. Born in Stockholm, he studied music in Berlin and was initially influenced by German Romanticism. Afterwards, he sought a more Nordic voice, drawing inspiration from Carl Nielsen and  Jean Sibelius. Stenhammar composed two completed symphonies, six published string quartets, two piano concertos, four piano sonatas, a violin sonata, as well as many songs and choral works. He was Artistic Director of the Gothenburg Symphony from 1906 to 1922, and was also considered the finest Swedish pianist of his time.

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Martin Sturfält (born 1979 in Katrineholm) is a Swedish pianist. He studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. Sturfält began giving regular concerts at the age of 11, and has since performed extensively throughout Europe, as well as in Asia and the Far East, collaborating with orchestras such as the Hallé Orchestra and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. His repertoire includes the standard works as well as new music and lesser-known works. His recordings of the Stenhammar's solo works and Adolf Wiklund's Piano Concertos have received critical acclaim. 

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