Ulf Wallin - Elgar: Mot d’Amour - SUPER-AUDIO CD [Super Audio CD (SACD)]

Between 1934 and 1949, Allan Pettersson, one of Sweden's foremost composers of symphonies, wrote chamber works that differ greatly from his later production. With his Two Elegies, composed at the tender age of 17, Pettersson drew the enthusiasm of his teacher, who saw in him the makings of a composer. The Four Improvisations for string trio recall Bartók's music with their rhythmic vitality. The Andante espressivo is more personal with it's experimental melodic and harmonic leanings. After his forced return from Paris in 1939, where he had gone to study, Pettersson composed a tender and lyrical Romanza and, three years later, his only piece for solo piano, the elegiac and meditative Lamento. The most important work on this recording is the Concerto for Violin and String Quartet, a harsh, dense work that places great demands on the musicians. Initially rejected by the critics, the work now appears almost unique in terms of it's radical tonal language and experimental use of extended techniques. For this recording, Ulf Wallin has brought together colleagues and friends to perform these lesser-known works, which nevertheless constitute an essential milestone in the career of the great Swedish composer.

Ulf Wallin - Violin Works [COMPACT DISCS] date 05/30/2006

The follow-up to 2005's InchAlligatorInch is filled with rich arrangements and sees the band incorporating new instrumentation and expanded musical elements such as piano, trumpet, and more prominent background vocals. Inch... churning grooves and shambling new wave rips, turning up depressed guitar poetry that's both elegantly wasted and kinda murkyInch - Rolling Stone. InchThe National traffic in poignant moments of heartbreak and regret, but pain has rarely sounded so beautifulInch - Spin.