Scandinavian and Finnish composers.

[Symphonic Addict]

A photo of the composer:



Zero resemblance with the most famous Nielsen. 

[vandermolen]

A photo of the composer:



Zero resemblance with the most famous Nielsen. 

Indeed Cesar!
I don't think that I will be able to resist the temptation of his Symphony No.3 on the basis of your description.

[The new erato]

Own both symphonies in their former BIS and Simax releases, love them verily, will certainly buy this new release ASAP. 

Very fine and characteristic works - unmistakeably Norwegian, nice to see Naxos venturing into this territory.

[vandermolen]

Very fine and characteristic works - unmistakeably Norwegian, nice to see Naxos venturing into this territory.

Good to know - the Naxos CD is now absurdly priced. For now I've ordered the CPO release of Symphony No.2 which was only £4.00 second hand.

[71 dB]

Lately I have turned my attention more to Finnish and Swedish composers. For long my attitude was:

- If I am not much into Sibelius, what are the chances I'd be into "lesser" Finnish composers?
- Almost all post WW2 classical music is atonal noise
- Sweden is so weak in classical music why even bother?

The last decade or so has changed my attitude. I have realized not being a big fan of Sibelius doesn't mean I can't enjoy other Finnish composers. Years ago I purchased a 3CD set of Rautavaara on Naxos. It was very cheap. Getting into his music didn't happen in 17 seconds, but I have noticed I like something about it. I have had the Naxos Englund dics for 20 years, and I have to say it's the bass-shy recorded sound rather than the music itself that keeps me getting blown away. So, I am in the prosess of exploring Englund further trying to buy those expensive ONDINE discs as cheap and humanly possible. Great composer. I also seem to be into the music of Uuno Klami, but I haven't heard many works yet. Of Swedish composers I am getting into Pettersson and also it seem some works of Atterberg can be my thing (Cello Concerto!)

It helps I "discovered" contemporary classical music maybe 5 years ago and realized I actually like it quite a lot. At some point I try to explore living Finnish composers such as Kalevi Aho. I have heard Magnus Lindberg's works and they are pretty crazy, intense and difficult! 

Exploring all these composers seem a huge work*, but I can dictate the speed myself...

* If music was the only thing in the World it would not be huge, but music competes with many many other things in life... ...and classical music is only a part of all music. 

[vandermolen]

Lately I have turned my attention more to Finnish and Swedish composers. For long my attitude was:

- If I am not much into Sibelius, what are the chances I'd be into "lesser" Finnish composers?
- Almost all post WW2 classical music is atonal noise
- Sweden is so weak in classical music why even bother?

The last decade or so has changed my attitude. I have realized not being a big fan of Sibelius doesn't mean I can't enjoy other Finnish composers. Years ago I purchased a 3CD set of Rautavaara on Naxos. It was very cheap. Getting into his music didn't happen in 17 seconds, but I have noticed I like something about it. I have had the Naxos Englund dics for 20 years, and I have to say it's the bass-shy recorded sound rather than the music itself that keeps me getting blown away. So, I am in the prosess of exploring Englund further trying to buy those expensive ONDINE discs as cheap and humanly possible. Great composer. I also seem to be into the music of Uuno Klami, but I haven't heard many works yet. Of Swedish composers I am getting into Pettersson and also it seem some works of Atterberg can be my thing (Cello Concerto!)

It helps I "discovered" contemporary classical music maybe 5 years ago and realized I actually like it quite a lot. At some point I try to explore living Finnish composers such as Kalevi Aho. I have heard Magnus Lindberg's works and they are pretty crazy, intense and difficult! 

Exploring all these composers seem a huge work*, but I can dictate the speed myself...

* If music was the only thing in the World it would not be huge, but music competes with many many other things in life... ...and classical music is only a part of all music. 

I wonder if you'd like the music of Madetoja? His Second Symphony is a favourite of mine. Just a thought.

[71 dB]

I wonder if you'd like the music of Madetoja? His Second Symphony is a favourite of mine. Just a thought.

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll try to keep that in my mind. I have to be careful not to exhaust myself with exploring... 

50 % of the time people here talk about composers I don't really know so that's why I feel like a newbie despite of having listened to classical music for almost quarter of a century and having hundreds and hundreds of CDs. It's just that when others where exploring Kabalevsky and Myaskovsky I was exploring Johann Adolf Hasse and Louis-Nicolas Clérambault.  0:)

I try to explore Kurt Atterberg a little bit more and then move on. I'm also exploring Einar Englund. I tried Gösta Nystroem, but I wasn't into his "semi-modernism." Then there is of course Allan Pettersson. 

I have spend more money on classical music recently and when the JPC order arrives I will try to buy less again.

[vandermolen]

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll try to keep that in my mind. I have to be careful not to exhaust myself with exploring... 

50 % of the time people here talk about composers I don't really know so that's why I feel like a newbie despite of having listened to classical music for almost quarter of a century and having hundreds and hundreds of CDs. It's just that when others where exploring Kabalevsky and Myaskovsky I was exploring Johann Adolf Hasse and Louis-Nicolas Clérambault.  0:)

I try to explore Kurt Atterberg a little bit more and then move on. I'm also exploring Einar Englund. I tried Gösta Nystroem, but I wasn't into his "semi-modernism." Then there is of course Allan Pettersson. 

I have spend more money on classical music recently and when the JPC order arrives I will try to buy less again.

I like the music of Englund, especially Symphony No.2 'Blackbird' and No.1 'War'. As for Nystroem, his 'Sinfonia del Mare' is the stand-out work for me.

[71 dB]

I like the music of Englund, especially Symphony No.2 'Blackbird' and No.1 'War'. As for Nystroem, his 'Sinfonia del Mare' is the stand-out work for me.

I must have heard Englund on radio some 20 years ago and I bought the one Naxos disc*. Only lately have I been more interested of contemporary and Nordic stuff so continuing the exploration of Englund is logical to me. As for Nystroem I tried the 2nd or 3rd Symphony because I read those are considered the best. Nystroem's style just doesn't seem to be for me right now so I "move on." There are plenty of composers to explore and if I run out before I die I can always come back to Nystroem.

* I don't know if it was sold outside Finland because it was a "Finnish" Naxos release with texts in English, Finnish and Swedish and an "F" in the cataloque number: 8.553758 F. Naxos seems to have "local" releases and I have seen "German" Naxos releases used on Amazon for example.

[calyptorhynchus]

I have been listening to Ludolf Nielsen via YouTube and I think there's some very nice music in his oeuvre. The symphonies I found a bit incoherent, but the String Quartets 2 and 3 are very fine SQs in my opinion.

An irony as Carl Nielsen's SQ's aren't very good at all (strange that he never discovered how to write a SQ as a polyphonic dialogue/trialogue/quadrilogue when all the Symphonies and orchestral pieces, and the Wind Quintet, are full of this type of texture).

[vandermolen]

I must have heard Englund on radio some 20 years ago and I bought the one Naxos disc*. Only lately have I been more interested of contemporary and Nordic stuff so continuing the exploration of Englund is logical to me. As for Nystroem I tried the 2nd or 3rd Symphony because I read those are considered the best. Nystroem's style just doesn't seem to be for me right now so I "move on." There are plenty of composers to explore and if I run out before I die I can always come back to Nystroem.

* I don't know if it was sold outside Finland because it was a "Finnish" Naxos release with texts in English, Finnish and Swedish and an "F" in the cataloque number: 8.553758 F. Naxos seems to have "local" releases and I have seen "German" Naxos releases used on Amazon for example.

This is the fine Englund CD that I have on Naxos:

[71 dB]

This is the fine Englund CD that I have on Naxos:

Okay, that's the international version. The music content is identical, I checked. The Finnish "F" version looks like this:

[71 dB]

An irony as Carl Nielsen's SQ's aren't very good at all (strange that he never discovered how to write a SQ as a polyphonic dialogue/trialogue/quadrilogue when all the Symphonies and orchestral pieces, and the Wind Quintet, are full of this type of texture).

Totally agree. Carl Nielsen's String Quartets are strangely weak compared to his other works. About 20 years ago when I got into the composer after being blown away by his 4th Symphony I "hoarded" the available few Naxos discs including the brand new String Quartets CDs only to be disappointed and confused. It's hard to believe it's the same composer behind the Symphonies and the String Quartets. It's strange Naxos jumped to these String Quartets so "early" when these should be among the last works to record and release to please Nielsen completists...

Carl Nielsen was predominantly an orchestral composer occationally nailing it in smaller scale works (e.g. Wind Quintet).

[vandermolen]

Okay, that's the international version. The music content is identical, I checked. The Finnish "F" version looks like this:

Interesting! Didn't know there was a special Finnish version.

[Symphonic Addict]

Carl Nielsen's SQ's aren't very good at all

[71 dB]

Interesting! Didn't know there was a special Finnish version.

Naxos seems to do things like this. My Naxos box of 3 Rautavaara CDs is also Finnish version (8.503234FIN) "Musiikkia mestarin kynästä" (Music from the maestro's pen). I'm not sure if this boxset is released elsewhere as it contains music selected from the individual Naxos Rautavaara CDs.

[kyjo]

Carl Nielsen's SQ's aren't very good at all

My reaction exactly! I love (Carl) Nielsen's SQs.

[Mirror Image]

I have to agree that I'm not too impressed with any of Nielsen's SQs. As much as I love his Wind Quintet or the Violin Sonata No. 2, I find most of his chamber oeuvre to be less inspired than his symphonic works and concerti.

[71 dB]

Einar Englund disc of his Cello Concerto and the 6th Symphony on Ondine arrived today. Just listened to it the first time. The Cello Concerto is very nice, especially the Adagio is "DEEP."  0:) The 6th Symphony isn't my (or anyone else's) favorite Englund Symphony, but it's okay. I am not a fan of this kind of works for orchestra and chorus.

I really like Englund's "no nonsense" approach. The music is rich, but contains nothing unnecessory. Especially I like how his music is totally free of national romanticism, but still sounds very "Finnish."

[Mirror Image]

Especially I like how his music is totally free of national romanticism, but still sounds very "Finnish."

This makes zero sense coming from an alleged 'Elgarian'.