BERWALD · STENHAMMAR · AULIN : Swedish Romantic Violin Concertos (Niklas Willén · Swedish Chamber Orchestra · Tobias Ringborg) (1999) Two Version | FLAC (image+tracks+.cue), lossless

For much of the nineteenth century in Sweden, music-making was confined to small-scale chamber music at home. Ambitious composers had to move abroad to seek acceptance of their work. Berwald’s Violin Concerto was performed only once in Sweden during his lifetime, and on that occasion the audience laughed. It was not until a century later, when Tor Aulin and Wilhelm Stenhammar led a Berwald revival, that this sparkling work was performed throughout Europe. Stenhammar’s two Romances were written during one of the most creative periods of his life. Full of feeling, they are models of the genre. The two Romances were given their first performance by Tor Aulin, whose own Violin Concerto No. 3 belongs firmly to the world of Brahms and the central European romantic tradition. naxos
FRANZ BERWALD (1796-1868)
1-3.    Violinkonsert I Ciss-Moll, Op 2    (21:38)
WILHELM STENHAMMAR (1871-1927)
4-5.    Två Sentimentala Romanser, Op 28
TOR AULIN (1866-1914)
4-8.    Violinkonsert Nr 3 I C-Moll, Op 14 (30:59)
Credits : 
Conductor – Niklas Willén
Cover [Omslagsbild - "Hoga-dal På Tjörn"] – Karl Nordström
Orchestra – Svenska Kammarorkestern
Violin – Tobias Ringborg

STENHAMMAR : Concerto No 1, Op 1 • Concerto No 2, Op 23 (Seta Tanyel · Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra · Andrew Manze) (2009) Serie The Romantic Piano Concerto – 49 | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Welcome to a genuinely outstanding disc in the Romantic Piano Concerto series. Sometimes the works found along the unfrequented byways of the Romantic piano tradition can exhibit no more than surface brilliance, but that cannot be said of these two splendid concertos by Stenhammar, recorded for the first time together on one CD.

The original orchestration of Stenhammar’s Piano Concerto No 1 is recorded here: a version which was long thought lost when the publishers were bombed during the second world war – a copy of the original was discovered in the Library of Congress in 1983. The twenty-two year old’s Opus 1 is a masterpiece, majestic and virtuosic at its opening; bringing the listener into a world of Nordic mystery at the start of the third movement; the finale ending with music of sad, reflective sweetness. The second concerto is a distinctly different work, with an novel, some have said ‘improvised’, structure, and a sense of tension between soloist and orchestra which is only resolved in the glorious virtuosic finale.

Hyperion is delighted to present the distinguished musician Andrew Manze in his new incarnation as a conductor. Directing the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, he is truly a force to be reckoned with. Pianist Seta Tanyel has featured on previous RPC recordings, always gaining the highest critical acclaim; however her magnificent playing on this new disc transcends her previous achievements. Hyperion

Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927)

Piano Concerto No 1 In B Flat Major Op 1 (Original Version)    (45:53)

Piano Concerto No 2 In D Minor Op 23    (29:21)

Credits :
Conductor, Liner Notes – Andrew Manze
Orchestra – Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra
Piano – Seta Tanyel

GRIEG • NIELSEN • SIBELIUS • STENHAMMAR : Violin Sonatas & Pieces (2016) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

WILHELM STENHAMMAR : The Two Symphonies; The Two Piano Concertos And Other Orchestral Music (1994) 4xCD / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

All tracks & credits

STENHAMMAR : String Quartets (Stenhammar Quartet) (2013) SACD / FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

 
 

WILHELM STENHAMMAR : Piano Music (2008) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

In the contest to see which Scandinavian country produced the best fin de siècle composer, Norway has Grieg, Denmark has Nielsen, Finland has Sibelius, and Sweden has Alfvén and Stenhammar. Needless to say, Grieg, Nielsen, and Sibelius are all vastly better known to non-Scandinavian audiences than Alfvén and especially Stenhammar. After all, Alfvén at least has the once popular Swedish Rhapsody to his credit, while Stenhammar is barely a name outside his own country.
Still, for those who sought out the Swedish recordings of his works, Stenhammar proved a nearly great composer of symphonies, concertos, and string quartets whose music sounds more like Brahms than Wagner and more like him than anybody else. This 2008 Hyperion disc by pianist Martin Sturfält features some of his best and most characteristic piano music: two large-scale sonatas, plus his Nights of Late Summer and Three Fantasies. The G minor and A flat major sonatas are big-boned, serious works in the grand manner, while the Nights and the Fantasies are expressive and sensuous works in the salon manner. All four works receive convincing performances by Sturfält, who clearly has the virtuoso technique, the nuanced tone, and the subtle understanding needed to make Stenhammar's music work. Here, Stenhammar's sonatas may sound a bit like latter-day Brahms and the Nights and Fantasies may sound at times like latter-day Chopin, but all four are imbued with a directness of expression and an intensity of utterance that are the entire composer's own. While longtime Stenhammar aficionados may already have the excellent recordings of his complete piano work on BIS by Lucia Negro, anyone dipping into these pieces for the first time may want to try this single disc before diving in head first. Hyperion's sound is a tad dry, but very clear and very, very vivid. by James Leonard