Stenhammar recommendations?

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  • gramophonic
    Full Member
    • Apr 2023
    • 19

    Stenhammar recommendations?

    I've been going through and cleaning some of my lps and was just listening to stenhammar's 1st symphony with Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg SO on BIS. Gripping stuff! and so I thought I'd have a look and see what cds of his I have. and unbelievably I only have Piano concerto 1, Symphony 3 (Rozhdestvensky) (Chandos)
    I see a Brilliant classics 3 disc set of symphonies and the piano concerto with Järvi, can't seem to find out if this is the BIS set or another.
    So, what would you folks recommend I get? I think I do have more of his work on LPs somewhere as I kept all my uncommon repertoire records, but would like to explore.​
  • smittims
    Full Member
    • Aug 2022
    • 4141

    #2
    As you haven't mentioned it,the second symphony seems the obvious next step; as I recall, it's refreshingly different from the first.

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    • EnemyoftheStoat
      Full Member
      • Nov 2010
      • 1132

      #3
      You should - no, you must - hear the Serenade, ideally the BIS recording by Järvi that includes the discarded Reverenza movement, although there are various fine recordings without it, e.g. Blomstedt.

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      • Pulcinella
        Host
        • Feb 2014
        • 10921

        #4
        The only Stenhammar that I have knowingly listened to is the second symphony, included on a BBC MM CD (top billing goes to Peer Gynt):



        BBCSSO/Hannu Lintu

        I can't say it made a great impression on me, but I'll dig it out and give it another spin.

        Comment

        • french frank
          Administrator/Moderator
          • Feb 2007
          • 30280

          #5
          A former forumite writes:

          The Brilliant boxed set of Stenhammar symphonies: these recordings ARE the old BIS ones; Live performances of the works complete with audience applause (but silent throughout the actual performances). Jaarvi and the same orchestra re-recorded the works for DG about 10 years later, but these are studio recordings which (IMO) lack a little of the "fizz" of the earlier perfformances. The BRILLIANT box does not have the Serenade, which is an annoying missed opportunity (especially as the Piano Concertos included in the box aren't nearly as good pieces). There is a BIS 4 CD collection which includes all the works in the BRILLIANT box, plus the Serenade, and some shorter choral & orchestral fillers (some of which are conducted by Jarvi junior) - if he can find this at an affordable price, it's a much better investment.
          It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.

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          • Barbirollians
            Full Member
            • Nov 2010
            • 11679

            #6
            Christian Lindbergh’s recording of the Serenade and Excelsior.

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            • Serial_Apologist
              Full Member
              • Dec 2010
              • 37671

              #7
              Stenhammer is a composer whose music always passes muster with me, whichever period it is from. This morning I chanced upon the last two movements of an early Violin Sonata in A minor Op 19, a work clearly influenced by Brahms but faultlessly crafted and showing enough originality to persuade me to Google check for the composer (Zemlinksy? Reger? Medtner?) and find it to be early, from the turn of the last century. It was the last work presented on TTN.

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              • bluestateprommer
                Full Member
                • Nov 2010
                • 3009

                #8
                Originally posted by gramophonic View Post
                I've been going through and cleaning some of my lps and was just listening to stenhammar's 1st symphony with Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg SO on BIS. Gripping stuff! and so I thought I'd have a look and see what cds of his I have. and unbelievably I only have Piano concerto 1, Symphony 3 (Rozhdestvensky) (Chandos)
                I see a Brilliant classics 3 disc set of symphonies and the piano concerto with Järvi, can't seem to find out if this is the BIS set or another.
                So, what would you folks recommend I get? I think I do have more of his work on LPs somewhere as I kept all my uncommon repertoire records, but would like to explore.​
                I strongly recommend Stenhammar's String Quartets. There aren't many recordings out there, and I certainly cannot claim to have heard them all (only the old Caprice issues back in the day; I still have an LP set on my shelf). But even without hearing other recordings, my guess is that any recording of Stenhammar's quartets out there will be good at a very bare minimum, at the very least, and is probably much more than good, given their rarity on record.

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