Pettersson's Pavilion

[Lethevich]

This is fine but the best of the CPO set are conducted by Francis.

In the other symphonies Segerstam trumps CPO but the BIS discs are pricey.

BIS, however, need to continue their excellent work and persuade Segerstam to record the rest of the cycle.

The silly thing about the BIS cycle is that it seems to have stopped without them even recording the 6th. But they did see fit to record two pointless earlier ones... talk about counter-productive... 0:)

[Harry]

The silly thing about the BIS cycle is that it seems to have stopped without them even recording the 6th. But they did see fit to record two pointless earlier ones... talk about counter-productive... 0:)

Also a silly but a very serious thing is that BIS has troubles to keep themselves above water, hence the many BIS recordings that are licensed out.

[Sergeant Rock]

My last Pettersson upload:
Allan Pettersson
Symphony No. 6

Thanks, Johan...you're the man!

Sarge

[greg]

Just finished listening to the 6th.....thanks for uploading it, Jezetha!

As for the 8th, I listened twice yesterday and once today, experiencing some of the strangest emotions ever while listening. It's hard to describe, but the best comparison I can think of is like being in a deep sleep and confronting all sorts of fears in your dreams.... but that's the closest i can get to describing it. After that, there's just no words, it's very different.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

As for the 8th, I listened twice yesterday and once today, experiencing some of the strangest emotions ever while listening. It's hard to describe, but the best comparison I can think of is like being in a deep sleep and confronting all sorts of fears in your dreams.... but that's the closest i can get to describing it. After that, there's just no words, it's very different.

What you are saying is, I think, that Pettersson touches existential depths inside the listener if he or she is attuned to his musical language and temperament...

He doesn't speak as strongly to me as he obviously does to you, but his music doesn't leave me cold; on the contrary - he disturbs me so much that I can't listen to him very often.

[greg]

What you are saying is, I think, that Pettersson touches existential depths inside the listener if he or she is attuned to his musical language and temperament...

yes, exactly......
and it connects deeply with the pessimistic attitude towards life that I've developed over the years....

He doesn't speak as strongly to me as he obviously does to you, but his music doesn't leave me cold; on the contrary - he disturbs me so much that I can't listen to him very often.

Yeah, I think I should already take a break from him. Got his music playing back in my mind, although it's good to confront the demons every now and then, it sure isn't healthy all the time!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Yeah, I think I should already take a break from him. Got his music playing back in my mind, although it's good to confront the demons every now and then, it sure isn't healthy all the time!

No, it isn't. More life-affirming composers are in order, I think...

[Lethevich]

Wow @ the Comissiona 8th - this is better than the CPO, and has highlighted to me for the first time just how amazing the first couple of minutes are. I used to find it quite "easy-going" (if such a word could be applied) compared to the previous two symphonies, but it is very uncomfortable now. Amazing how Pettersson can ruin your mood by what are very tonal - and out of context, not that creepy - tunes. It's the relentless series of one after the other that makes it difficult.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Wow @ the Comissiona 8th - this is better than the CPO, and has highlighted to me for the first time just how amazing the first couple of minutes are. I used to find it quite "easy-going" (if such a word could be applied) compared to the previous two symphonies, but it is very uncomfortable now. Amazing how Pettersson can ruin your mood by what are very tonal - and out of context, not that creepy - tunes. It's the relentless series of one after the other that makes it difficult.

Perhaps Pettersson is the only composer of whom it literally can be said that listening to him is hell. He really makes you suffer (but so does IKEA, another gift from Sweden). 

[Lethevich]

Not to mention ABBA. It should be said that my reaction to the 7th depends on mood. I can often admire and enjoy its beauty, and how well crafted it is, in its pseudo-minimal kind of way. Generally find it a little less depressing than the two on either side because of that...

[vandermolen]

My last Pettersson upload:

http://rapidshare.com/files/118224928/Pettersson_-_Symphony_No._6__Okko_Kamu_-_vinyl_rip_.mp3

I got this from Usenet. The original poster wrote:


Allan Pettersson
Symphony No. 6

Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
Okko Kamu. conductor

From CBS Masterworks 76553 (European LP)
in-concert recording, April 11, 1976

Truly rare and stunning performance!

And I agree.

Like the Comissiona Baltimore No 8, I have been waiting for Kamu's No 6 (which I have on an old CBS LP) to appear on CD for decades (it never did), so many thanks Johan  6-8 are the greatest in my view (with Violin Concerto No 2 to be his very greatest score).

[Varg]

I dont find the 6th and 8th to be "depressive". Dreamy, hypnotic and highly emotional is how i would describe them, and that is exactly what i like about (his) music. I've been listening to Pettersson's music at least once a day, since a couple of years. It never gets old, even if i'm extremely used it. And it surely isn't hell for me to hear that music!

I forget about everything, even my own self, when i listen to those symphonies. No other composer can take me away like that, and that's one of the many reasons why he's by far my favorite composer.

[karlhenning]

Of course, I have as yet listened to only a few of the symphonies;  but I should not characterize what I have heard as "depressing," either.

[Dundonnell]

No, it isn't. More life-affirming composers are in order, I think...

You have my vote there!!

I have all the Pettersson symphonies and have admired his music for a long time. I bought the 6th in the Okko Kamu version and the 7th with the Stockholm Philharmonic conducted by Dorati on LP many, many years ago!

But..I cannot bring myself to listen to Pettersson very often. I am NOT going to try to argue that he is over-rated because-clearly-many members of this forum rate him very highly and that is just fine but all I can say is that I DO prefer, as Jezetha puts it, more 'life-affirming' composers. That does not diminish my respect for the music or my admiration for a man who continued to compose in such crushingly difficult personal circumstances.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I dont find the 6th and 8th to be "depressive". Dreamy, hypnotic and highly emotional is how i would describe them, and that is exactly what i like about (his) music. I've been listening to Pettersson's music at least once a day, since a couple of years. It never gets old, even if i'm extremely used it. And it surely isn't hell for me to hear that music!

I forget about everything, even my own self, when i listen to those symphonies. No other composer can take me away like that, and that's one of the many reasons why he's by far my favorite composer.

I am glad you are so attuned to Pettersson that you can listen to him every day, Varg. I think every artist would like so much devotion. Your avatar is Pettersson, mine... - well, I can listen to Brian every day, which many people would consider quite a chore!

I didn't appreciate Pettersson for decades, but something 'clicked' with the Seventh a few months ago. Then I listened to the Sixth, and that won me over for good. But he is so dark and intense, I simply can't 'enjoy' him (if that's the word) on a regular basis.

My next Pettersson experience will be the Eighth I so kindly uploaded... 

[Thom]

6-8 are the greatest in my view (with Violin Concerto No 2 to be his very greatest score).

Exactly Jeffrey, that is how I see it! The symphonies that is, the VC2 I have yet to listen to but I will soon. Very very moving music, and I agree with Jezetha, this is not for every day.

Th.

[vandermolen]

Exactly Jeffrey, that is how I see it! The symphonies that is, the VC2 I have yet to listen to but I will soon. Very very moving music, and I agree with Jezetha, this is not for every day.

Th.

I do not know of a more overwhelmingly moving piece of music than the end of Pettersson's Violin Concerto No 2. I think that it is one of the greatest 20th Century violin concertos, possibly the greatest ,and I do not say this lightly. With Symphony No 6, it is "the long struggle towards the sunrise" (as the notes on my old CBS Kamu LP says), which appeals; ultimately I do find this to be life-affirming music. For me taking Dorati's Decca LP of Symphony 7 out of the record library when I lived in London was my introduction to Pettersson, but I could not listen to him every day. In fact Sibelius is the only composer I can listen to regardless of the mood I'm in. At the moment I'm listening to Miaskovsky; another composer I can listen to frequently.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I do not know of a more overwhelmingly moving piece of music than the end of Pettersson's Violin Concerto No 2. I think that it is one of the greatest 20th Century violin concertos, possibly the greatest, and I do not say this lightly.

I'll listen to it today.

[vandermolen]

I'll listen to it today.

I hope that you enjoy it (if that's the right word!). There are two CDs:

1 Ida Haendel (whom it was written for), Swedish RSO, Herbert Blomstedt (Caprice). This is the CD of my old LP, which was a revelation to me. The advantage of this is that the CD also contains Pettersson's "Suite from Barefoot Songs", one of which Pettersson uses to very moving effect in the Violin Concerto (especially at the end). The booklet contains some touching photos of Pettersson, by then in a wheel chair, with Ida Haendel.

2 Isabelle van Keulen, Swedish RSO, Thomas Dausgaard (CPO). This is a fine recent recording of the Revised version.

You can't really go wrong with either recording and I like this work so much that I have both.

It is not an easy listening experience (it never really is with Pettersson) but, as with Symphony 6, the end puts a kind of retrospective glow on all the trauma of the earlier sections of the score.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I hope that you enjoy it (if that's the right word!). There are two CDs:

1 Ida Haendel (whom it was written for), Swedish RSO, Herbert Blomstedt (Caprice). This is the CD of my old LP, which was a revelation to me.

That's the one I have (minus the Barefoot Songs - got it from Usenet...)

Edit: I have the Barefoot Songs with Dorati and Erik Sædén, bass.