Lars-Erik Larsson: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Larsson (1908-1986) became one of the most beloved Swedish composers of his generation. His Symphony 1, written when he was twenty years old, has all the hallmarks of Nordic Romanticism, and the presence of Sibelius wanders about in the background. But the center of the work is tonal and very colorful. This was immensely popular when it appeared in 1928. His Symphony 2 (1937) doesn't lose its romantic center, but is this time colored in darker shades. A political statement about the Russians and the Nazis? Perhaps. But it has the same brooding charm as Nielsen's Symphony 4 or Sibelius's Symphony 6. Great music inside and out. --Paul Cook

Tracks:

Sym No.1 in D, Op.2: I. Allegro Moderato
Sym No.1 in D, Op.2: II. Adagio
Sym No.1 in D, Op.2: III. Scherzo. Allegro Vivace
Sym No.1 in D, Op.2: IV. Finale. Allegro Con Spirito
Sym No.2, Op.17: I. Allegro Con Moto
Sym No.2, Op.17: II. Andante
Sym No.2, Op.17: III. Moderato. Prestissimo

Amazon.com

Larsson (1908-1986) became one of the most beloved Swedish composers of his generation. His Symphony 1, written when he was twenty years old, has all the hallmarks of Nordic Romanticism, and the presence of Sibelius wanders about in the background. But the center of the work is tonal and very colorful. This was immensely popular when it appeared in 1928. His Symphony 2 (1937) doesn't lose its romantic center, but is this time colored in darker shades. A political statement about the Russians and the Nazis? Perhaps. But it has the same brooding charm as Nielsen's Symphony 4 or Sibelius's Symphony 6. Great music inside and out. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews:

Nordic beauty.......2000-10-13

Lars-Erik Larsson probably is one of northern Europes most underestimated composers of the 20th century. Maybe because he didn't wright music that was 'modern' in a time that was modern - his concern seems to have been to wright simple, beautiful music - making him more neo-classical/romantic than modernistic. His symphonies are just that, simple and beautiful, handcrafted by a man who, just like Grieg, Sibelius, Gade, Alfven and Nielsen, could catch the special melancholy of the nordic sentiment within short phrases. It's true that these symphonies doesn't give you a very new, refreshing input to the development of classical music, no great surprises, but it nevertheless is extremely beautiful and freshsounding. The instrumentation sounds like a intelligently and successfully largened stringquartet, with the same dynamic expressivness, and the same simplicity.

All this is shown in both of the symphonies. The first being mostly soft and lyrical, with lots of the very special, nordic, inseparable changes between minor and major harmonies. The second is a little more serious with a short melody, altering from one section of the orchestra to the other, and for every time it's passed on, it's also developed a little further til it reaches its most singing part, with lots of nordic dance-rythms beneath. The woodwinds plays a very important part here, sometimes changing to the strings, but always returning to the winds, with its dark, serious and in the same time transparent sound. So if the first sounds like spring/summer, the second is more like mid-winter.

To get a complete picture of the maybe most romantic nordic music you just might get in one and the same composer (Larsson) you must also try his 'Pastoral-suite', the 'romance' is suffocatingly beautiful and nothing short of worldclass, and his smaller-scale works of concertinos (especially the one for clarinet) and sinfoniettas. These have been succesfully recorded ny both EMI and BIS. All these are preferably played by swedish or nordic orchestras, as here, for there is something special about this music, that lies deep down of the nordic sentimentality, that really can't be as well understood by easteuropeans or others. This BIS-recording also have the favour of being very well balanced and engineered.

If you've heard the symphonical music of Sibelius, Grieg or any of the above stated, maybe Larsson, and liked it - Listen to this! You surely won't get disappointed. It's extremely beautiful!

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Get Up [Import]

Flies in the Face of Logic

High & Low Down/Over Easy

Au Club St. Germaine 58

Swansongs [Import]

R&B Music: 20 Great R & B Hits of the 50s

Live in Tokyo [Import] [Live]

In Song 1925-1942

I'm Into Music

Jazz Music: 1959

Live at Max's Kansas City [Live] [Original recording remastered]