Steve Schwartz offers a typically fine review of the new Alfven Symphony
#4.  A worthy piece to be sure.  I did wonder about Steve's opening
paragraph:

> Hugo Alfven may be the most popular Swedish composer in Sweden.  And wh=
y
> not?  Marvelous tunes in sumptuous Straussian orchestrations characterize
> him at his best.  Unlike someone like Sibelius, Stenhammar, or Nielsen,
> however, Alfven's music lacks a strong intellectual or architectural
> component.  Listeners usually don't have to fret over whether they will
> "get it."

When I lived in Sweden (first in the mid-70s and again in the mid-80s),
I heard almost no Alfven other than his two folksy blockbusters
"Midsommarvaka" and "Dalarapsodi." I never heard his symphonies on a
Filharmonic concert.  Still, Swedes do love those romantic folksong
numbers.

Steve is right about the good tunes and sumptuous orchestration, and
listeners do definitely "get it." While I was there, the Swedish composer
that seemed to get the most play was Lars-Erik Larsson.  Then there was
also quite a bit of Berwald, Stenhammar, Atterberg, Wiren, and early
Rosenberg.

But that was twenty years ago.  Does anybody know who the most popular
Swedish composers are these days?  Maybe Alfven really has had a
reawakening.  In any case, you hear a heck of a lot more Swedish music
in Sweden than American music in America.  Fy, skam!

David Lamb in Seattle

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