Aaron Rabuska writes:

>As far as recordings go Comissiona recorded Pettersson's 8th Symphony, for
>DG with the Baltimore SO.

Actually, he recorded it for Polar - DG was good enough to take that
recording up for wider distribution.  (And of course he recorded
Pettersson's 9th, dedicated to him, with the Concertgebow on Phillips -
a vastly different reading than the one currently available on cpo.)

Jon Johanning writes:

>Seriously, though, the neglect of Pettersson on these shores is pathetic.

I couldn't agree more.

>Perhaps we can use this list, and the North American Pettersson fans on it,
>to get a groundswell started to induce more performances.

Most folks here will tell you they wish I'd shut up.......

>One problem may be that his personal life and political views don't
>exactly mesh with the standard American image of a musical hero--Beethoven,
>Mozart, etc.

I don't know about THAT.  Here is a classic Horatio Alger story - the
son of an alcoholic wife-beater who buys his first violin with money from
selling postcards, works his way through an elitist school, wins the Jenny
Lind prize, composes 16 large-scale symphonies, and goes on to
international, uh, neglect.  Hmmm.

Mark
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