MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK


Lars-Erik LARSSON (1908 - 1986)
Senhöstblad (Late Autumn Leaves) (including Intimate Miniatures, op.20) (1940) [21:13]
String Quartet No.1, op.31 (1944) [21:20]
String Quartet No.2, Quartetto alla serenata, op.44 (1955) [18:30]
String Quartet No.3, op.65 (1975) [10:23]
Stenhammar Quartet (Peter Olofsson, Per Öman (violins); Tony Bauer (viola); Mat Olofsson (cello))
rec. 13-14 September (Senhöstblad and 1st Quartet); 17-18 May (2nd Quartet); 11 August 2008 (3rd Quartet), Studios 2, 9 and 3, Swedish Radio, Stockholm. DDD
DAPHNE 1035 [72:11]
Experience Classicsonline


Calle Friedner's notes begin with the comment, 'Lars-Erik Larsson is one of the best-loved Swedish composers …' and nothing could be more true. The glorious Pastoral Suite, op.19 (1938) is as well known, and it is as well appreciated as his contemporary Dag Wirén's marvellous Serenade for Strings, op.11 (1937). But there's much more to this composer than that delightful morsel - and over the years recordings of most of his output has been made available to us, including his three Symphonies, the twelve Concertinos for every orchestral instrument (except tuba) plus one for piano with string orchestra not to mention the beautiful Förklädd Gud (A God in Disguise) for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, Op. 24 (1940). There's also the glorious Violin Concerto, op.42 (1952) which was recorded by André Gertler in the 1950s, and never bettered. His later works, such as the orchestral Due auguri, op.62 (1971), display a more difficult voice but repeated hearings show them to be the masterpieces they so obviously are.

Larsson studied at the Stockholm Conservatory and with Alban Berg in Vienna, hence his more austere later pieces. This disk is a very good introduction to Larsson's music, if you don't know it, for it covers almost his whole career and shows his various styles. Intimate Miniatures is known as a four movement Suite for either String Quartet or solo piano and it has been recorded in both versions. This new disk, however, contains a six movement suite, two pieces having been recently discovered, hence it contains the Intimate Miniatures we know but with extras. It's a delightful, totally unpretentious, work, the movements depicting various occasions from a quiet day in September to the time when autumn turns into winter. Despite the obvious light quality of the subject matter the work does contain a superb, and very thoughtful, slow movement.

With the 1st Quartet we enter a different world - this is much more serious fare, but the language is still very approachable. The tone of the first movement seems, at the outset, to be serious but there is much fun to be had as the music progresses. The slow movement displays a Nielsenesque turn of phrase - odd in this composer whose music sounds quite unlike any other - but it's there and it is a lovely passionate song, with a lighter middle section. The finale, although marked molto vivace has quite a Mozartean sense of fun and the music is frothy and very light-hearted.

The 2nd Quartet is a more mature work, indeed it's more serious, with a gorgeously deeply felt slow movement, but it's not without a sense of lightness when necessary - the first movement is especially delightful in this respect. The 3rd Quartet is a different prospect entirely. In three tersely constructed movements, the language is more intense than what has gone before. But this is not to say that this music is difficult, it's obviously the same voice as the other works but it speaks with much more maturity.

If you haven't yet made the acquaintance of the music of this interesting Swede this is a really good starting point. The music is, superficially, easy to listen to but has sufficient quirks and twists and turns to keep you wondering what is going to happen next. The Stenhammar Quartet plays magnificently and the recording and presentation are excellent.

Bob Briggs

see also review by Rob Barnett

 

 
 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.