Allmänna Sången is one of
the most well-known choirs in Sweden,
and also one of the oldest. It was founded
in 1830 with close bonds to Uppsala
University. It was for more than 130
years a male choir, women being in short
supply in academic circles in the 19th
century. From 1961 it became "allmän"
in the right sense of the word ("allmän"
meaning general). Having been lead since
1988 by Cecilia Rydinger Alin, one of
the most versatile of Swedish conductors
- I specially remember a wonderful performance
of Tristan und Isolde with the
Värmland Opera in Karlstad some
years ago - they must be counted among
the best choirs in the country with
fresh tone and homogenous sound. The
average age of the choir is quite low
which contributes freshness to their
sound. Nuanced singing and evenness
of production are a further two characteristics
I would apply to the choir.
The recorded sound,
as always with BIS productions, is honest
and unfussy. It registers what it was
like in the University Hall in Uppsala,
without adding anything or taking anything
away.
Repertoire-wise this
is also an attractive proposition. It
offers a blend of eternal favourites
with quite a few pieces off the beaten
track. O, Holy Night and Silent
Night are almost de rigueur. To
the Swedish public the first track,
Gunnar Wennerberg’s Gören portarna
höga, a setting of Psalm 24
in the Book of Psalms, is certainly
standard fare. I have lost count of
how many times I have sung it. Gläns
över sjö och strand is
also an evergreen, but the most common
setting of this Viktor Rydberg text
is Alice Tegnér’s; Allmänna
Sången here prefer Ivar Widéen’s
rarely heard version which is also much
more in tune with the lyrics. A pleasant
surprise is Hugo Alfvén’s Julsång
which I can’t remember hearing before.
Internationally Alfvén is best
known for his colourful orchestral music
but on home ground his reputation as
a composer and arranger for choir is
very high. Without his pioneering work
during the first decades of the last
century, also as a conductor of OD (the
other famous choir from Uppsala), the
standard of Swedish choral music would
never have attained today’s level.
The song I immediately
fell in love with was Innan gryningen
(Before Dawn) set to a text by one of
the foremost Swedish poets, Ylva Eggehorn,
by Benny Andersson of ABBA, Chess
and Mamma Mia fame. Few present
day song writers have such talent for
creating melodies that go to the heart.
Beginning with fiddle and flute writing
evocative of folk music, he then unfolds
a simple unaffected melody that gives
the impression of having always existed.
The price of the disc is worth paying
for this song alone. And how wonderfully
Karl-Magnus Fredriksson scales down
his impressive baritone to intimate
chamber music size.
Sweelinck’s Hodie
Christus natus est with jubilant
brass, takes us back to the late Renaissance
while Praetorius’s Det är en
ros (Es ist ein Ros entsprungen)
is an encounter between the 16th
century melody, sung extremely slow
as a cantus firmus, and Jan Sandström’s
late 20th century clothes.
The two weave a shimmering gossamer
light halo around the melody. Sandström
is internationally best known, I suppose,
for his Motorbike Concerto, recorded
and played on innumerable occasions
by Christian Lindberg. The present far
from easy choral work, composed in 1987,
has rapidly become a repertoire piece
for the best Swedish choirs.
The Uppsala Chamber
Soloists, who accompany most of the
songs here except four a cappella
items, are heard on their own in
the Danish composer Niels W Gade’s little
suite Der Kinder Christabend (The
Children’s Christmas Eve). This comprises
five short movements both solemn and
full of joy. It is quite unassuming
music but full of charm and the orchestra
(in fact strings only) play well, as
they do in the rest of the programme.
Gade, the most important Danish symphonist
before Carl Nielsen, went to Leipzig
after completing his education in his
home country. There he had a fruitful
collaboration with Felix Mendelssohn,
deputizing as conductor of the Gewandhaus
Orchestra and also being his successor
from 1847. It seems logical to end this
Christmas concert with Mendelssohn’s
well-known setting of Wesley’s Hark,
the Herald Angels Sing. This together
with many other English carols has become
increasingly popular in Sweden, thanks
above all to Anders Lindström’s
assiduous work over the last quarter
century. John Rutter and Herbert Howells
are examples of the British tradition
and Rutter especially is extremely often
performed today.
I mentioned in passing
the Karl-Magnus Fredriksson, who participates
in seven of the songs. He has developed
away from the lyrical, tenoral baritone
I heard at one of his earliest recitals
in 1992. There he sang among other songs
an extremely beautiful Dichterliebe.
Now he is an expressively dramatic singer
with ringing top notes and a bass-baritonal
lower register. He impressed enormously
as the bass in Haydn’s The Creation
a couple of years ago. His singing today
has a certain similarity to Ingvar Wixell
when he was at the height of his powers;
praise indeed. Adam’s O, Holy Night
and Wennerberg’s Gören portarna
höga are gloriously sung but
the lasting impression is of his finely
nuanced singing, his beautiful half
voice and the evenness of his production.
Sibelius’s Julvisa, actually
one of five Christmas songs collected
as his Opus 1, has palpable warmth and
inner glow. I must mention again Innan
gryningen, which I am going to play
again as soon as I have finished this
review.
There are riches galore
on this disc. It can be confidently
recommended to lovers of Yuletide music
or of good choral singing or of good
baritone singing ... or just lovers
of good music well performed.
Göran Forsling
Karl-Magnus Fredriksson (baritone) 
