Pettersson's Pavilion

[greg]

Greg - consider yourself warned. If you want to wallow in self pity this is perfect. May I suggest something lighter though if you actually suffer from depression as some of your diner comments might suggest.

Whoa, did I just hear my name?...
Actually, I don't do the self-pity thing- just the anger thing. 

I really don't listen to Pettersson much, although I do respect the fact that he can say what he does in his music. I just don't find him as addictive or interesting as others- maybe I just see his music as not very dynamic and simple? I find something like Gorecki's 3rd to be even more depressing than most of Pettersson's stuff, but I rarely listen to that either because the music is just too simplistic.

[vandermolen]

I listened right through Pettersson's VC No 2 today (Ida Haendel/Herbert Blomstedt, Swedish RSO/Caprice label).  It had me gripped from beginning to end - I have known this work since its first appearance on LP in 1980 and it has never lost its hold over me. The advantage of the Caprice version over the excellent new CPO version is that it contains the 'Suite from Barefoot Songs', the first one of which the Violin Concerto No 2 is based on.

[Lilas Pastia]

The concerto is not something one hears on a regular basis. But Jeffrey's reaction, even after decades of exposure, is just what that masterpiece elicits: total immersion in the music.  There's simply no room to escape. One of the most absorbing listening experiences I've ever had the privilege to go through.

[vandermolen]

The concerto is not something one hears on a regular basis. But Jeffrey's reaction, even after decades of exposure, is just what that masterpiece elicits: total immersion in the music.  There's simply no room to escape. One of the most absorbing listening experiences I've ever had the privilege to go through.

Thanks Andre  Now I am listening to the CPO version! It is a bit softer grained (if that is the right word for this music) - but just as valid an interpretation I think. I find the poignant photos of the ailing Pettersson in the Caprice booklet notes to be very moving.  Two great discs. 'No room to escape' - yes, you are so right.

[snyprrr]

I'm trying to search the thread for mention of the 7 Sonatas, but,...



Can anyone comment between the two versions, BIS and Caprice?

[snyprrr]

I'm trying to search the thread for mention of the 7 Sonatas, but,...



Can anyone comment between the two versions, BIS and Caprice?

Also, I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and get the CPO 3/4, or wait for BIS to get around to No.4, the only one I haven't heard.

BIS still have 2,4,6,9,12,13,14,...yea!, how bout that?, they haven't even cracked the shell yet!!

[Mirror Image]

Gustaf Allan Pettersson was a symphonist of the twentieth century, specializing in giant, single-movement structures chronicling pain and despair. Like Mahler, he had an abusive alcoholic father. Pettersson's father was an atheist. His mother was a devoutly religious woman who sang Salvation Army hymns, often as a way to escape the atheistic proclamations of her husband. In his symphonies, as in Mahler's, the sudden emergence of folkish music breaks out as an antidote to tension. In Pettersson's case this often takes the form of broad, chorale harmonizations.

The family lived in a poor neighborhood of Stockholm. Allan had to sell Christmas cards on the street to get money for a violin. He taught himself how to play. He entered the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1930. Finally, he won the Jenny Lind Scholarship in 1930, using it to study viola in Paris with Maurice Vieux. He continued his education as a composer while holding down a job as violist in the Stockholm Concert Society Orchestra, and played in various radio ensembles. His composition teachers were Otto Ohlsson and Karl-Birger Blomdahl. During the 1940s he wrote his important large-scale cycle, Barfotsånger (Barefoot Songs). In another parallel with Mahler, he frequently used melodies from it in his symphonies. In 1943 he married Gudrun Gustafsson. In 1946 they moved into a small fifth floor apartment in the south side of Stockholm. It remained their home for 30 years, becoming Pettersson's prison.

In 1950 Pettersson committed himself to prepare for a career entirely devoted to composition. The orchestra gave him leave to study in Paris with Honegger, Milhaud, and Leibowitz. He rejected the neo-Classicism of the first, and the 12-tone proselytizing of the last-named of these. His long, difficult works failed to attract much enthusiasm at home, but he went through with his plans to resign from the orchestra in 1952. Soon, though, he began suffering joint pains that would later be diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis. Somehow, Sweden's democratic welfare state failed to provide him with needed medical care, medications, or social support. Pettersson described himself as "a voice crying out, drowned in the noise of the times." For a decade and a half he was known as a composer only in narrow circles, though he received a few commissions. In 1963 a recording was made of one movement of one of his concerti for strings. In 1964 the government granted him a guaranteed income.

Then he scored his breakthrough with the Symphony No. 7. This one-movement work depicts a harsh inner struggle, relieved by a radiant Adagio section. Antal Dorati's premiere of it on October 10, 1968, was a triumph. It was the last concert Pettersson would attend. Soon, his debilitation made it impossible to descend the stairs. He was trapped in his apartment. Pettersson's only outside view was of a junkyard. He composed his music while a hostile neighbor blasted out rock & roll, often around the clock.

The Seventh Symphony led to international success. Pettersson received commissions for new works, and wrote a new symphony nearly every year. In 1976 the government moved him to a luxurious, ground-level apartment, and provided first-class medical care for him. He died while working on his Seventeenth Symphony. He left 15 extant symphonies and a formidable Second Violin Concerto in a single 50-minute movement.

[Article taken from All Music Guide]

Since there is no thread regarding all facets of Pettersson's music and life, this thread is much in order. I'm still relatively new to Pettersson's work, but for the longest time he simply scared the living hell out of me. But now I know this was just fear, Pettersson's music demonstrates life at its most pessimistic. But I think deep down, Pettersson was a decent man who loved life, but found that the only way to truely express himself musically was not to sugarcoat it. There are rays of light in the music and this makes the music that much more rewarding.

Share you thoughts about this very underrated composer here. Do you have any favorite recordings? What are you thoughts about his music?

[Mirror Image]

BIS still have 2,4,6,9,12,13,14,...yea!, how bout that?, they haven't even cracked the shell yet!!

Which is why I went ahead and bought the entire Cpo set. I'm not going to wait around on BIS to finish their cycle. That would be a long wait!

[Sergeant Rock]

Which is why I went ahead and bought the entire Cpo set. I'm not going to wait around on BIS to finish their cycle. That would be a long wait!

And too, there is no guarantee the BIS performances would be superior anyway. I know it's a matter of taste, but I prefer Albrecht's Seventh to Dorati and Segerstam's. What's more important, paulb prefers Albrecht...and we all know paul is the final arbiter in these matters 

Sarge

[karlhenning]

(* chortle *)

[Mirror Image]

And too, there is no guarantee the BIS performances would be superior anyway. I know it's a matter of taste, but I prefer Albrecht's Seventh to Dorati and Segerstam's. What's more important, paulb prefers Albrecht...and we all know paul is the final arbiter in these matters 

Sarge

Yeah, I think too often people put a label, like BIS for example, above the actual performance and think just because it's on this label that it's superior. Like if Deutsche Grammphon released a box set of Pettersson symphonies (likely never to happen in our lifetimes), then many people will instantly think: "Oh it's on DG, it must be great!" This kind of attitude is what seperates true classical fans from those who claim to be fans.

Paulb is a Pettersson fanatic, which even the fanatics don't always hold the best judgement when recordings are concerned. I'm a huge fan of Ravel, Bruckner, Vaughan Williams, Villa-Lobos, and Bartok, do you honestly think I really know what are the greatest recordings? No, of course not. It's all subjective. What I look for in the music is totally different than what everyone else looks for.

I bought this set to really examine the music. The interpretative part of the music is something I will analyze much later. Right now, I'm just going to try to become more familiar with the music.

[snyprrr]

What was up with that Kamu 6? I was just listening to the CPO in the rain the other day, and would love to know how different, or wotnot, the Kamu is.

I've only listened to 6 3-4 times. The other day I was hearing all kinds of 8, and I suppose 7 too, but, 6 really seems to have the most drawn out ending, no? (maybe 6 and 8 are very similar?)

[Mirror Image]

What was up with that Kamu 6? I was just listening to the CPO in the rain the other day, and would love to know how different, or wotnot, the Kamu is.

I've only listened to 6 3-4 times. The other day I was hearing all kinds of 8, and I suppose 7 too, but, 6 really seems to have the most drawn out ending, no? (maybe 6 and 8 are very similar?)

I would like to own the Kamu if it ever gets released, but I have a lot of Pettersson to absorb right now. I just ordered the complete symphony set on Cpo and I have a lot of catching up to do with most people who posted on this thread.

[just Jeff]

Two that never made it to CD issues?





Not that I know of....

[Mirror Image]

Two that never made it to CD issues?





Not that I know of....

No, these never made it to CD.

[Lethevich]

And too, there is no guarantee the BIS performances would be superior anyway. I know it's a matter of taste, but I prefer Albrecht's Seventh to Dorati and Segerstam's. What's more important, paulb prefers Albrecht...and we all know paul is the final arbiter in these matters

I was surprised that I didn't like the Dorati 7th considering the praise it gets - it seems to skim over much of the piece and the tempo relations were a little less "perfect" than Albrecht.

[Mirror Image]

I was surprised that I didn't like the Dorati 7th considering the praise it gets - it seems to skim over much of the piece and the tempo relations were a little less "perfect" than Albrecht.

Have you heard Segerstam's recording of the 7th, Lethe?

[J]

I was surprised that I didn't like the Dorati 7th considering the praise it gets - it seems to skim over much of the piece and the tempo relations were a little less "perfect" than Albrecht.

What a curious judgement.  To my sensibility the Dorati recording is utterly superior to CPO Albrecht, - and in fact, after numerous listens to Albrecht I remember thinking it might be the worst Pettersson performance I'd ever heard.  For example, the wonderously consolatory passage for strings that begins (in the Doratri recording) at about 25' - everyone who knows the Symphony knows the part I'm referring to - seems terribly disjointed and without much impact in Albrecht when up against Dorati's seamlessness and passion.  It's precisely the dynamics and tempo relations you admire that IMO Albrecht makes a terrible mess of (the playing isn't very good either).  We hear with different ears.     

[Lethevich]

Strange indeed

Mirror Image: I have, and recall it being impressive, but I feel that I may have imprinted on the CPO recording a little too much, as this is my usual "go-to". I'll return to Segerstam when I'm in the mood for the composer's idiom.

[J]

Like with most things he records Segerstam drags the tempos and lacks forward impetus (IMO).

Perhaps it's been mentioned here, but I read somewhere that Dorati supposedly detested the music
notwithstanding his benchmark recording.  Can anyone provide confirmation or document the source for this?