Kallstenius: Symphony No. 1 Sinfonietta No. 2 Musica Sinfonica

Beermann, Frank, Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Kallstenius, Edvin

CPO 777 361-2

Edvin Kallstenius studied the natural sciences prior to receiving musical training from Stephan Krehl in Leipzig from 1904 to 1907. He was a music critic and from 1928 to 1946 served as the Swedish Radio music archivist in Stockholm. Additionally, he was a member of the executive board of the Swedish Society of Composers from 1933 to 1961 and of the Copyright Association from 1932 to 1957. Although as a composer he admired both the sublime and the lyrical Beethoven and was of the opinion that the old forms still had much to say, he filled these old forms with his unique harmonic designs and his own personal content. Throughout his life he held to a personal style that was rigorous but rich in innovations. He avoided rigid commitment to a monolithic tonal language by resorting to melodic intensity reinforced by harmonic expansions and interaction between introverted romanticism and gestures of greater vigor pointing toward expressionism. He was an uncompromising craftsman whose scores contain meticulously precise playing instructions. His music is not always easy to follow; he himself was held to be brusque and obstinate and was nicknamed »Gallsteinius« (Mr. Gallstone). His first symphony is one of the most remarkable symphonies composed in Sweden during the 1920s. After the symphony's premiere Ture Rangström wrote, »Kallstenius is not a charming composer who invites one to applaud.« But the composer's honesty, intentionality, and feeling did not escape him: »He does not play the coquette with his modernism.« In any case, in our Swedish discovery series his music always holds in store particularly interesting finds!

CD x 1

CPO

29/09/2014

761203736126