Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra - Fritiof-Svit; Symphony No. 1 in C major - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The Choir of Girton College, Cambridge, continues it's pioneering exploration of the music of the Italian Renaissance master Marc'Antonio Ingegneri (c. 1535/36-92) with a journey through the liturgical year, as mirrored in Ingegneri's motets. A 'concept album' of Renaissance polyphony may be an unusual undertaking, but this one illustrates how Ingegneri took his lead from the emotions implicit in each major celebration of the church - from sorrow and awe to joy and jubilation - expressed in music of extraordinary beauty, belying the internal complexity that gives it it's emotional power.

Allan Pettersson's Symphony No. 15 is characterized by a high degree of tension right from the striking opening brief, emphatic chords from horns and trombones above the tremolo of a side drum. Soon an expressive melodic subject is heard from the first violins, followed by contrasting rapid scales - at which point Pettersson has presented the greater part of the symphony's building blocks. Like so many of the composer's symphonies, the 15th is in one movement, but with clearly defined sections. It was completed in 1978, two years before Pettersson's death, and was followed in 1979, by the sixteenth symphony, the last work that the composer submitted for performance. Only later did it become known that Pettersson had also been working on a Viola Concerto - a work that, if not fully completed, was so far advanced that it has been accepted as part of his œuvre. It is presented here by the Swedish violist Ellen Nisbeth, who also performs one of Pettersson's very earliest compositions - a Fantaisie pour alto seul, dated June 1936, when the composer himself was about to embark on a career as violist. On this the tenth disc in their acclaimed Pettersson cycle, the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Christian Lindberg bring their combined expertise to bear on the orchestral scores.

Gunter Raphael's Symphony No. 1, composed in 1940, is characterised by it's melodic richness and expressive depth, which is strongly influenced by the late Romantic tradition. The masterful orchestration and the dramatic, almost poignant character of the music, which is wonderfully expressed in the interpretation by the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Fabian Enders, is particularly noteworthy. Although it was composed during the National Socialist era, it does not reflect any ideological instrumentalisation, but rather shows an artistic expression that is characterised by human feeling and inner reflection. It's harmonies are rich and complex without drifting into the radical modernism of the time, making the symphony a unique work in the context of 20th century music.