Mark Shanks <[log in to unmask]> replied to Steven Schwartz:

>SO - run, don't walk, and try some Holmboe (although my choice for first
>hearing would be the Symphony #8 (Sinfonia Boreale) and #9) and, should
>budget allow, check out this new Nystroem recording.

A great lover of Nordic music for almost twenty years, I was wondering
how many symphonic masterpieces were still unknown to me:-) -- then came
Kallstenius and his 2nd symphony.  I do not know whether this is the best
instance of the "distant sound" he had been searching for throughout his
life, but the elliptic quality of the slow movement, the surprising
encounter of Sibelius and Mahler in the outer movements (although
Kallstenius is very much his own man), many marvellous details make it one
of the most beautiful discoveries I made in a long time.  Surely the budget
will have recovered from a Holmboe&Nystroem crisis by now...

(The CD reference is Phono Suecia PSCD 701.)

Another Nordic symphonist whose symphonies are eagerly awaited (at least
by me) is Ebbe Hamerik, whose operas are being released by Danacord.

Best wishes,

Thanh-Tam Le
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