Symphony No. 3 ("Pictures of the West Coast")
Kurt Atterberg
1916 | Full Orchestra
1916 | Full Orchestra
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I. Soldis, Lento
beg - 10 |
Skills & Techniques: Phrasing
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Horn 1 (F)
Due to restrictions, sheet music for this excerpt is not provided.
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Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (1998)
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Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (2016)
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Composer & Composition Information
Kurt Atterberg (1887-1974)
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One of Sweden's leading composers during the middle twentieth century, Kurt Atterberg championed contemporary Swedish music as a whole in his work as a conductor, critic, and officer in composer-advocacy organizations. His music was easily accessible -- a polytonal treatment of late Romanticism -- and he had little love for more advanced techniques or the composers, even young Swedes, who used them. In his lifetime, he developed only a small reputation outside Scandinavia, mainly in Germany; even in Sweden he was regarded as something of a relic by the 1950s, his final period of extensive composition. Atterberg's work has enjoyed a revival on compact disc, if not in the concert hall, and his posthumous reputation now seems secure at least among omnivorous record collectors.
Atterberg studied cello in school, but as a composer he was largely self-taught, despite a stint at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music (1910 - 1911) and as a scholarship student of Max von Schillings in Germany in 1911 and 1913. His main course of study at the Stockholm College of Technology was civil engineering and his primary career, from 1912 to 1968, was in the patent office. Nevertheless, like many composers before him (particularly Russia's "Mighty Handful"), he devoted as much time as he could to music. He made his conducting debut in his native Goteborg in 1912 with a performance of his Symphony No. 1, and conducted regularly at Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theater from 1916 to 1922. In the '20s, he was particularly active as a guest conductor, especially of his own music and that of other Swedes. During this time, he also managed to launch his tertiary career as a music administrator; in 1924 he co-founded the Society of Swedish Composers (with which he stayed until 1947) and the Swedish Performing Rights Society (STIM). He was also a part-time music critic published in Stockholm newspapers from 1919 to 1957. The text is reprinted from All Music where more information about the composer can be found. The image is reprinted from Wikipedia. |
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Symphony No. 3 ("Pictures of the West Coast")
Atterberg’s Third Symphony was assembled in stages between 1914 and 1916 from ideas for three seascapes/tone-poems that – after the premiere of the central Storm, with which the opening Summer Haze was also performed – convinced him to make a unified whole. Despite the piecemeal creation, the Third is arguably the finest of Atterberg’s nine, and there are some who rate it one of the finest Nordic symphonies of the first half of the 20th century. I am not inclined to disagree, allowing that it is a primarily descriptive or illustrative work; and Järvi’s beautifully crafted account, with some delicious playing from the Gothenburgers, makes a superb case for it. If no one has quite managed the magic of the opening pages as did Ehrling (whose account is still available, download-only, from Caprice), this newcomer is a close second, with the best sound, the performance richer and fuller than Rasilainen’s.
The text is written by & reprinted from the Gramophone where more information about the composition can be found.
The text is written by & reprinted from the Gramophone where more information about the composition can be found.
Notable Performances/Recordings:
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (2015)
Hannover Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (2013)
Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra (1992)
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (2015)
Hannover Radio Philharmonic Orchestra (2013)
Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra (1992)