Search - Oskar Frederik Lindberg, Michael Bartosch, Gävle Symphony Orchestra :: Oskar Lindberg: Tre Dalmålninger; Festpolonäs; Hemifrån; etc.

Pleasant, Richly Romantic Swedish Orchestral Works

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 08/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Oskar Lindberg (1887-1955) was part of that group of composers called 'The Young Swedes' which included such better-known figures as Kurt Atterberg and Ture Rangström. He had deep roots in the Swedish countryside, being descended from a long line of country fiddlers, and his music is imbued with Swedish folksong, particularly that of Dalarna (sometimes called 'Dalecarlia' in English) in central Sweden. The first of the works on this disc, 'Three Dalecarlian Paintings' ('Tre Dalmålninger'), illustrates his love of the region's landscape and music. It is unfailingly melodious and lushly orchestrated.



Perhaps the major work here, and the longest, is 'From Home' ('Hemifrån'), a quarter-hour tone poem that evokes the longing for one's home district. In some ways it sounds a bit like Rachmaninov or Sibelius in one of their melancholy moods. Gorgeous. Although I have not a speck of Swedish blood, when I listen to this I find myself suddenly homesick for a land I've never visited. The 'Leksand Suite' does much the same thing. (Leksand is one of the provinces in Dalarna.) Equally evocative are the tone poems 'Festpolonäs' and 'Gesunda'.



The playing and recorded sound are all one could ask. Although the Gävle orchestra is considered relatively minor, as these things go, it plays this echt-Swedish music marvelously.



Scott Morrison"