Don Satz, writing of Berwald:

>He was somewhat eccentric in his compositions; he often is flowing along
>with a particular theme and then, shazam, he's off on what seems like
>a totally different planet.  I consider this feature one of the core
>ingredients of Berwald's music

Many years ago, I read a review of a Berwald record which included:
"Some of his wilder ideas are a little mad." I'd only recently started
exploring Berwald through two of his symphonies conducted by Igor
Markevitch (recently re-released on DG Originals) and found the phrase
very apt.  If anything, Don's description is even moreso.

Deryk Barker observed:

>IMHO his finest music (of what I've heard) is to be found in
>the orchestral works, especially the symphonies and particularly
>the Sinfonie Singuliere, again IMHO a masterpiece.

I must agree with Deryk's opinion.  The Jarvi versions of them on DG have
much to recommend them but if you only want to dip your toe in the water,
the Markevitch CD will do nicely.

I've also recently got to know an attractive Naxos CD containing a septet,
a serenade and a piano quartet.

Richard Pennycuick
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