BIS are no quitters; we know that. Even so, some of their projects
can come more quickly to achievement than others. Their Pettersson
symphony cycle is still in hand and this is the latest delivery.
The others are:-
Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2, Aug 2011 · CD-1860
Symphonies 8 and 10, Apr 1998 · CD-880
Symphony No.3 and 15, Jun 1995 · CD-680
Symphonies No.7 and 11, Jun 1993 · CD-580
Symphony No.5, Aug 1990 · CD-480
Thus symphonies 4, 9, 12-14 and 16 lie in the future. At this
rate it will be another decade before Bis can issue a Pettersson
box to vie with that from CPO.
Allan Pettersson’s last and very painful years saw his
symphonies featuring in radio broadcasts. These were prolifically
copied across the world, often on audio-cassette. He also rode
the final wave of LP issues from a miscellany of labels. Notable
among these were the rare and horribly expensive DG Polar of
No. 8 and the Swedish Philips double-LP set of No.9, both with
Sergiu Comissiona: Baltimore for No. 8 and Goteborg for No.
9. I remember buying these at frightening prices from Direction,
Dean Street and Harold Moores, None of these LPs have been officially
reissued though I see that the enterprising Haydn
House has taken up the challenge if you are interested.
The Sixth Symphony’s first recording did not come from
Comissiona nor from Dorati whose Seventh put Pettersson’s
name up in lights but from Karajan protégé Okko
Kamu. He and the very same orchestra as here had their recording
issued on a CBS LP 76553 (April 1976). For a change, I managed
to pick this up in a W.H. Smith’s sale in Torquay; not
the sort of music they stock now.
While one cannot now hear the Kamu except through that private
HH reissue the Sixth has been recorded on CD by CPO. Lindberg
captures Pettersson’s painful mixture of tragedy and majesty
so well. The cackling woodwind about ten minutes into the work
have never been captured with such relishable immediacy; acidic
percussion impacts likewise at 51:08. The peak of ecstatic pain
comes in the carolling brass at about 29:00 as the deeper instruments
lash the soul while the trumpets claw at the heavens. This version
keeps up the tension across the massive hour-long movement in
a single track in a way that neither Okko Kamu nor Manfred Trojahn
on CPO 999 124-2 have done. While the long slow pulse is there
in all its Petterssonian fidelity the fast music is given a
strongly accented propulsion too and this works very well indeed.
The all-conquering lyrical element that winged the Seventh to
fame is there in the Sixth. This time it is the melody, Han
ska släcka min lykta (He will extinguish my light)
which is the last of his own Barefoot Songs. It can be
heard again at 55:23. The whole cycle of Barefoot Songs
has been included in Sterling’s complete Pettersson songs
just issued on CDA1678-2. A repeated groaning ostinato cell
(39:14 and 49:00), similar to that in the Seventh, propels the
music mournfully and sometimes jaggedly forward under the melody.
It’s a simple device yet very effective. It took an audacious
composer to run with this epic and extended idea and to spin
it over such a prolonged span. The final balm-like four minutes
are a calming benison to troubled souls. Not quite up there
with the Seventh Symphony but very close. Precious music.
Rob Barnett
NOTE:
Thanks to Giorgio Nicoli, Martin Walker and Jeffrey Davis for contacting me with their Pettersson recording memories.
Giorgio passed on the very good news that Christian Lindberg and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra performed the Pettersson Ninth Symphony in November and January 2013 and later in January 2012 they will record it for BIS. It seems that an SACD release is scheduled in a few months time. There’s a concert review at http://allanpettersson100.blogspot.it/2012/12/halsningar-fran-norrkoping-2012.html
The Pettersson Bis cycle is scheduled to proceed this year with the Fourth and Sixteenth symphonies. So my speculation about having to wait another decade for the completion of the BIS cycle looks to have been unduly pessimistic.
Martin Walker corrects me – and it’s great news: The Kamu Pettersson 6 can it seems be downloaded from a specialist Blog which can be found using Google. The online Unsung Composers List (anyone can join) has a list of recordings privately digitalised: these offer several interesting Pettersson performances. He wondered how much the Comissiona Pettersson 8 on DGG Polar was: It’s a long time ago now but it would have been something like £6.00 – a lot at the time. Martin was fortunate enough have picked up a copy for a song at some German LP sale.
Jeffrey Davis came across the fine old Kamu LP in a small record shop in Whitby circa 1980 and also purchased the very expensive DGG Commissiona No 8 - probably from Imhofs or Farringdon records in Cheapside. Jeffrey reminded me that the last part of No. 6 was referred in the Kamu CBS LP notes as something like 'the long struggle towards the sunrise'.
alternatively
CD: MDT
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Download from eclassical.com
Norrköping Symphony Orchestra/Christian Lindberg 
[59:50] 