Composer: Allan Pettersson
Performer: Ellen Nisbeth
Orchestra: Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Christian Lindberg
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: BIS
Catalogue: BIS2480
Release: 2022
Size: 1.21 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Symphony No. 15
01. Beginning
02. Bar 116
03. Bar 235
04. Bar 281
05. Bar 367
06. Bar 434
07. Bar 543
08. Bar 629
09. Bar 696
10. Bar 748
11. Bar 855
12. Fantaisie for Solo Viola
Viola Concerto
13. Beginning
14. Bar 151
15. Bar 252
16. Bar 329
17. Bar 474
18. Bar 638
Allan Pettersson’s Symphony No. 15 is characterized by a high degree of tension right from the striking opening: brief, emphatic chords from horns and trombones above the tremolo of a side drum. Soon an expressive melodic subject is heard from the first violins, followed by contrasting rapid scales – at which point Pettersson has presented the greater part of the symphony’s building blocks. Like so many of the composer’s symphonies, the 15th is in one movement, but with clearly defined sections. It was completed in 1978, two years before Pettersson’s death, and was followed in 1979, by the Symphony No. 16, the last work that the composer submitted for performance.
Only later did it become known that Pettersson had also been working on a Viola Concerto – a work that, if not fully completed, was so far advanced that it has been accepted as part of his œuvre. It is presented here by the Swedish violist Ellen Nisbeth, who also performs one of Pettersson’s very earliest compositions – a Fantaisie pour alto seul, dated June 1936, when the composer himself was about to embark on a career as violist.
The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Christian Lindberg bring here their combined expertise to bear on the orchestral scores.