Adolf Wiklund is little known outside his native Sweden. As
for his compatriots, he was better known as a conductor at the
Stockholm Royal Opera and also of the orchestra of the Konsertföreningen,
today the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. These activities
meant that he had little time for composing during the latter
part of his life. His teachers included Richard Andersson, who
was a pupil of Clara Schumann, and Johan Lindegren, who taught
several generations of Swedish composers. His most influential
mentor was Wilhelm Stenhammar with whom he became very close
and they discussed their new works together. The two piano concertos
are generally regarded as Wiklund’s most important works
and they were frequently played until the 1960s, when they were
deemed unfashionable. In 1941 no less a pianist than Wilhelm
Backhaus played the second concerto. Both concertos have also
been recorded several times, the most recent, before this issue,
by Ingemar Edgren (No. 1) and Greta Erikson (No. 2) some thirty
years ago both later issued together on CD on Caprice CAP21363.
In Concerto No. 1 it is the pianist who opens the first movement.
The piano part is throughout rich and brilliant and the orchestral
writing is fresh and powerful. Wiklund is firmly rooted in the
romantic tradition and there is more than a faint echo of Brahms
in this movement. This is not to say that he is just an epigone;
his is a distinctive personal tone and in the beautiful slow
movement there is Nordic flavour but also fragrances from an
impressionistic pallet. Wiklund had heard Debussy’s Pelléas
et Mélisande and was very impressed by it. The final
movement is an infectious dance, which is followed by a more
meditative section before we are back in dancing mood, leading
to a grandiose triumphant conclusion. It is very easy to fall
in love with this concerto, so full of ideas. In a way this
is also the weakness of the work. Wiklund has so much to say
that he becomes too verbose. It is nevertheless a charming verbosity
and his conversation is never pointless.
The Konsertstycke, Op. 1, written when he was only 23,
also brims over with ideas and, being his first composition,
it is surprisingly mature, not least in the surefooted handling
of the orchestra. The piano part is truly virtuosic and reveals
that Wiklund was an outstanding pianist. The work was also met
with unanimous praise by the music critics - including the hard-to-please
Wilhelm Peterson-Berger. Adolf Lindgren wrote in Aftonbladet:
‘inventive ideas, admirable realization and commendable
orchestration’. It is easy to agree.
Ten years after the first concerto he wrote his second concerto.
In the meantime he had matured further and learnt to economize
his ideas. This is a much tauter composition with the three
movements following each other attacca. Having owned
the Greta Erikson recording since it was new, I was already
familiar with the work and spent some time refreshing my memory
before listening to Martin Sturfält’s reading. This
is certainly one of the finest Swedish concertos and that it
is now available on an international label will surely mean
that it will reach a new audience.
The tonal language is very much the same as in the earlier concerto
but there are some harsher harmonic turns that reveal that Wiklund
during the intervening years had learnt a thing or two from
the currents of a new time. That said, he was no barnstormer
and anyone who likes Rachmaninov will immediately feel at home
in this work. Whether Rachmaninov has been a model is hard to
say but the second movement grows magnificently into something
that could have been music for a romantic movie, a Swedish Brief
Encounter maybe. The finale also has echoes of Rachmaninov
but it never becomes syrupy, which occasionally is the case
with the Russian’s music.
Martin Sturfält’s recording has no competition today.
Since Caprice Records no longer exists the Greta Erikson
recording is no longer available, unless some adventurous company
would buy the whole back catalogue and reissue it - there is
plenty of interesting material there. Hyperion’s recording,
produced by Andrew Keener, is first class in every respect,
the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra play superbly under their
Principal Conductor Andrew Manze and Martin Sturfält delivers
commanding readings of the solo parts. Readers who have heard
his debut CD for Hyperion with music by Wiklund’s friend
Stenhammar, will already know his capacity.
Amazingly this disc is No. 57 in Hyperion’s series ‘The
Romantic Piano Concerto’ and still more is to come. This
indicates no doubt that there is a market for music off the
beaten track. As always with Hyperion’s issues the presentation
is exemplary, including a well written interesting essay by
Martin Sturfält. Adolf Wiklund may be little known but
I hope that this excellent disc will change that.
Göran Forsling
Hyperion Romantic Piano Concertos: Review
index
Detailed track-list
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 10 (1906-1907) [32:41]
1. Allegro energico [13:38]
2. Andante ma non troppo [9:13]
3. Allegro vivace [9:48]
4. Konsertstycke in C major, Op. 1 (1902) [16:06]
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B minor, Op. 17 (1916-1917) [26:10]
5. Allegro moderato - [8:24]
6. Andante sostenuto - [8:38]
7. Allegro non troppo [9:07]
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Martin Sturfält (piano) 