To say that late Romanticism is the chief influence in Gustaf Bengtsson's music would be an understatement: outright mimicry of the style seems more apt, especially since Bengtsson's works of the 1930s and '40s are too far removed in time to have been anything but bald imitations of nineteenth century models, not natural products of his own period. The Violin Concerto in B minor (1941) is glaringly close in its thematic material, orchestration, and moods to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, and, in the finale, to Brahms' Violin ...
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To say that late Romanticism is the chief influence in Gustaf Bengtsson's music would be an understatement: outright mimicry of the style seems more apt, especially since Bengtsson's works of the 1930s and '40s are too far removed in time to have been anything but bald imitations of nineteenth century models, not natural products of his own period. The Violin Concerto in B minor (1941) is glaringly close in its thematic material, orchestration, and moods to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5, and, in the finale, to Brahms' Violin Concerto; Bengtsson's obvious borrowings distract from his fine violin writing and his otherwise competent handling of ideas. The Cello Concerto in A minor (1932) predictably apes Schumann's celebrated work, but Bengtsson also displays numerous bits he gleaned from Berlioz, Liszt, and Saint-Saëns in a kind of show-and-tell, again to the detriment of his few original conceptions. Violinist Tobias Ringborg and cellist Mats Rondin present the works with admirable technical control and...
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