Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4

The second movement is particularly spellbinding and poetic (a sure sign of the slow movements of the succeeding symphonies that convey great depth and flair). The beginning is peaceful and solemn. But the following passages become vivid and memorable. Listen to how a particular elegiac passage (@4'05''-ff) is given the more sense of this magical, compelling wroughtfullness by the english horn (cor anglais) admirably supported by the harp arpeggios and viola solo. This is something even Dvorak and Strauss would have appreciate. The mood intensifies into something of a "Hollywoodish" grandeur before the closing of the movement in ways contemplative in feeling. Then turn to the scherzo and you'll find some very adventurous writing, with the ideas again poignant and vivid.

Unlike the finales of the first symphonies of, say Alfven, Rangstrom, or Stenhammar, this finale is nicely held together. I admire the way he starts the first four minutes of the movement (adagio) with the compelling yet restrained expressionism of the second movement. The character is imaginative and noble and while I dreaded for the following allegro energico to be banal and empty,....I was relieved by the fact that the opposite was true. The finale comes short of being episodic even though the development did not go as far as one might have expected. However, Atterberg convinces me of a composer capable of grasping one's attention. Small wonders then that prominent conductors after the 1912 Goteborg premiere promoted this abundantly inventive score, including Leopold Stokowski and Carl Nielsen (who may have thoughts of his own rigorous, highly original first symphony written roughly two decades earlier).

The Fourth Symphony in G minor (1918) is a highly an engaging, resourceful work, with the ideas witty and virtuosic. Listening to the first movement, I sense something of Sibelius and perhaps of Ravel and Poulenc in much of the string writing with the mood Nordic but somewhat impressionistic. The second movement is enchanting, with the muted, highly concentrated strings accompany by the clarinet solo. Then turn to the english horn and flute solos (3'35''-ff) and the mood is even more impressionistic, but something remotely Baxian in temperament that has magic and wonder (and I'm thinking of Bax's "Nympholept" not in terms of the orchestration, but in terms of the melodies that are haunting, a sort of "one who's entering the enchanting woods during the spring, amazed by density of the trees and the streams which began to show life after a long winter"). The scherzo is sort of neoclassical in design; A Sodermanland polka at the beginning followed by the trio using the Vastmanland polka. The finale is likewise engaging and its' melodic profiles are characteristic. It's again very idiomatic and imaginative and the ending has a sort of Nielsenian sarcasm to it that I actually laughed (out of enjoyment, mind you).

The Symphony is altogether a flawless work and my admiration towards it will continue to grow. The First, meanwhile, is a mighty strong, rewardingly inventive score that also deserve live concert performances. Atterberg was among the more successful of Scandinavian composers and with good reasons. Ari Rasilainen and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, judging from their authoritative, enthusiastic performances, concur emphatically.