Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar was born six years after Sibelius, and his lighter music shows a good deal of successful influence from the Finnish master. The music on this release from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Järvi offers music that's not familiar outside Scandinavia, and it's generally highly enjoyable: Järvi is the conductor you want in sparkling, formally clear works like the Suite from Romeo och Juliet, Op. 45 that opens the program. You might easily take this for an unknown Sibelius theater ...
Read More
Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar was born six years after Sibelius, and his lighter music shows a good deal of successful influence from the Finnish master. The music on this release from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under Neeme Järvi offers music that's not familiar outside Scandinavia, and it's generally highly enjoyable: Järvi is the conductor you want in sparkling, formally clear works like the Suite from Romeo och Juliet, Op. 45 that opens the program. You might easily take this for an unknown Sibelius theater score, and the gentle short tone poem Reverenza is equally limpid and equally affectionately played. The Two Sentimental Romances, Op. 28 are valuable additions to the violin-and-orchestra repertory that could serve as curtain raisers for any concert, and they're cleanly rendered here by Gothenburg Symphony concertmaster Sara Trobäck. Perhaps the final attraction, the oversize 29-minute cantata Sången (The Song), with soloists, multiple choirs (including children), and a large...
Read Less
