Alfven: Festival Overture, Op. 25 / Symphony No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 7 / etc
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HUGO ALFVEN
Alfven: Festival Overture, Op. 25 / Symphony No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 7 / etc
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Niklas Willen
[ Naxos / CD ]
Release Date: Wednesday 1 January 1997
This item is currently out of stock. It may take 6 or more weeks to obtain from when you place your order as this is a specialist product.
The music of Hugo Alfvén has always been close to the hearts of the Swedish people. More than any other composer he is regarded as representing the spirit of the country. This might also be due to the fact that for many years he lived in Dalecarlia, the province where genuine folk-music tradition is at its strongest.
Alfvén came in fact from Stockholm, and from the age of fifteen studied the violin at the Conservatory there. It was thus on the violin that he supported himself during the 1890s whilst taking private lessons in composition with Johan Lindegren, the leading contrapuntalist of the day. He earned his daily bread as a violinist at the Opera, and his time in the orchestra there gave him comprehensive insights into the nature and possibilities of different instruments. The colourful and virtuoso orchestration skills he developed have been compared with those of Richard Strauss.
"The selections begin with the Festival Overture, a somewhat blustery, bombastic piece that, nevertheless, makes a good, rousing curtain raiser. So, it works in the capacity for which the composer doubtless intended it. Maestro Niklas Willen and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra give it their all, and if one doesn't expect something more substantial, it does its job." © 2018 Classical Candor
"Recorded in Henry Wood Hall, the sound is very truthful, capturing many details among the winds, giving due prominence to the combined brass sections and laying the heavy drums in its rightful place in the whole picture." Flying Inkpot
Tracks:
Festival Overture, Op. 25
Berga-kungen (The Mountain King) Suite
Upsala-rapsodi (Uppsala Rhapsody), Op. 24, "Swedish Rhapsody No. 2"
Symphony No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 7
