The Recording:

CD Review from:
D.C. Classical Buyer (Washington)

Kurt Atterberg Piano Concerto and Violin Concerto

          Here are two concertos which prove there are still musical treasures to be discovered and recorded. If you like Brahms, Rachmaninov and Addinsell, you'll love this piano concerto. The performance is absolutely superb, and represents the recording debut of a truly exceptional new pianist -- you'll be hearing more from him for sure. The violin concerto is a Nordic beauty that should please the most jaded of listeners. Again, the performance is superb, as is the recorded sound. A must for all lovers of later Romantic/early modern music.

Bob McQuinton

CD Review from:  Records International
September 1999

          Kurt Atterberg (1887-1974).  Piano Concerto in B Flat Minor, Op. 37, Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op.7.  The piano concerto is a full-throated, dizzyingly romantic work from 1927-35 whose first movement sounds now like a Swedish Rachmaninov and now like the score to an echt-Hollywood romance of the 1930's.  The piano is treated as an equal of the orchestra-more a symphony with piano obbligato than a true concerto.  The second movement is a deeply elegiac andante, full of nature lyricism, magic and melancholy in which the piano has a more soloistic role and the finale, marked furioso is in rondo form with Nordic harmonies and much brilliant and demanding work for the soloist.  No lover of piano concertos can fail to be seduced by this intoxicating work.  The violin concerto dates from 1913-14 and again has a technically demanding role for its soloist but also much appealing music of exuberant, songful brilliance.  Again, the andante has a melancholy, Nordic romanticism and melodic beauty while the finale is energetic and unmistakably Swedish.  Dan Franklin Smith (piano), Christian Bergquist (violin), Gävle Symphony Orchestra; B. Tommy Andersson.  Sterling CD1034-2 (Sweden).

Return to Top of Page . . . .

The Composer:

KURT ATTERBERG by Stig Jacobsson
from the CD booklet

          Kurt Atterberg (1887-1974) was successful in such diverse spheres as technology and music.  His interest in music took root when he was a teenager, and he made his first attempts at composition when he was eighteen.  After leaving school he enrolled at the Technical College in Stockholm while also studying composition under Andreas Hallén at the Academy of Music, and he also learned to play the cello.  He qualified as a civil engineer in 1910, the year before his debut as a conductor-performing his own First Symphony in Gothenburg.  At this time he also started working at the Patent Office in Stockholm.

          Atterberg's contribution to the administrative infrastructure of Swedish music - for instance as one of the founders of the Composers' Association (FST) and Copyright Society (STIM) - can scarcely be overestimated.  At the same time he was a productive composer whose works include five full-length operas, nine symphonies, five solo concertos and numerous symphonic poems and suites even though he was employed full-time as office manager at the Patent Office. After 56 years of service he retired in 1968, roughly at the same time that he composed his last works.

The Piano Concerto in B flat minor, Op. 37

          Atterberg started work on his Piano Concerto in B flat minor as early as 1927 but, after sketching the introduction to the first movement and the main theme of the finale, he put the project aside to concentrate on his Sixth Symphony and the opera, Fanal.  Not until the summer of 1933 did he return to the first movement, which he then completed in short score.  The following summer this movement was orchestrated, and it was performed separately on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Radiotjänst (Swedish Radio) in January 1935, with Olof Wibergh as soloist.  Later that year Atterberg composed the rest of the concerto.

          Olof Wibergh was again the solist when the concerto was first performed in its entirety, at a concert with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on the 12th January 1936.  The composer conducted, and the event was a great success.

          Atterberg busied himself with various conducting commitments in the months that followed, and his music was often played in continental Europe, sometimes by other conductors. Back home after a series of engagements abroad, he was thus able to hear his own Third Symphony in a broadcast from Vienna; immediately after that he set off for a concert at the Grand Opera in Vichy (31st August 1936) where, among other works, he conducted his new Piano Concerto.  That concert, which was also broadcast, once more featured Olof Wibergh as soloist.

          In his Piano Concerto, Atterberg follows the Brahmsian line: the piano is used more as an integrated part of the orchestra than as a contrasting, independent element.  One might even call it a symphony with obbligato piano. Atterberg's excellent handling of the orchestra here comes into its own, although the orchestral forces required are relatively compact.

          The first movement (Pesante allegro) starts with a motif from the piano which recurs on numerous occasions during the work and also serves, later on, as a transition between the Andante and the finale.  Immediately after this, the main theme is presented by the orchestra. When this is taken up by the piano, it is combined with other material and the exposition concludes with a cantabile theme in various instrumental and rhythmic guises.  This passage is among the finest that Atterberg ever wrote; it is a volatile and fiery.  In the development the various motifs are worked out; the piano winds its musically effective arabesques around the songful, appealing orchestral phrases.  In this way the pianist plays a relatively subordinate role -- the first movement even lacks a solo cadenza.

          In the Andante the piano comes more to the fore.  The movement opens with an accompaniment on muted strings, above which the main theme is presented by the piano.  The underlying tone is deeply elegiac, but we also find a ancient Nordic folk tune full of nature lyricism, magic and melancholy.  The music is full of noble melodies.  In the middle section we hear a broad melody, against which the trumpets intone the main theme.

          After a short cadenza we finally arrive at the finale (Furioso), in a lively rondo form and with typically Nordic harmonies.  The piano writing is brilliant and demanding, the orchestration colourful and full-blooded.  The entire concerto ends with a reminiscence of the main theme from the first movement.

          The Piano Concerto is characterized overall by temperament, melodic inspiration and orchestral splendour.

©1999 Stig Jacobsson
Translation by Andrew Barnett

Return to Top of Page . . . .

The Performing Artist:

DAN FRANKLIN SMITH

          Dan Franklin Smith discovered the Atterberg Piano Concerto at the Lincoln Center Reseearch Library in New York City early in 1998.  "While classical music's marketplace focuses on the best-known repertoire," he notes, "there are many musical gems still hidden, waiting to be found and shared with today's classical music lovers."

          At that time he was investigating Swedish compositions for performance with Maestro Arne Johansson and the Sofia Orchestra in celebration of Stockholm Cultural Year.  The performance took place in October of that year at Sofia Kyrkan in Stockholm, to high praise from the Swedish press and TV.  TV's sole classical music program, Musik Spegeln (Music Mirror), featured the performance, the work and the soloist on a broadcast seen throughout Sweden in November.  And Svenska Dagbladet noted that " . . . the result was more than anyone could wish for . . . .  Dan Franklin Smith beautifully asserted himself as a musical collaborator with his sensitive ear, strong sense of style and fine musicianship."

          A few months later, a Swedish CD producer, Sterling Grammofonskivor, was looking for a pianist who could accomodate his schedule to their projected recording date in May with the Gävle Symfoniorkester and conductor B. Tommy Andersson.  Sterling heard via the grapevine of Smith's great success with the concerto in Stockholm.  Having just performed the extremely difficult work, says Smith, "I was definitely the pianist of choice."

          While he is a concert pianist who performs all over the world, Smith is also in demand as an accomplished opera coach in his home town, New York City.  As one who is constantly hearing singers, "I was immediately impressed by the soaring melodic invention of Atterberg's concerto.

          As I studied the piece I found that the melodic and motivic development, a gentle bitonality on occasion, and the piano's integration into the orchestra as well as the very challenging piano writing made it a work always offering some new and distinctive sound to a definitively late Romantic work."

          A glowing description of this concerto, its recording and its artists can be found on the front page of Records International's September catalogue:  ". . . a full-throated, dizzyingly romantic work from 1927-35 whose first movement sounds now like a Swedish Rachmaninoff and now like the score to an echt-Hollywood romance of the 1930s.  The piano is treated as an equal of the orchestra -- more a symphony with a piano obbligato than a true concerto.  The second movement is a deeply elegaic andante, full of nature lyricism, magic and melancholy in which the piano has a more soloistic role, and the finale, marked furioso, is in rondo form with Nordic harmonies and much brilliant and demanding work for the soloist. No lover of piano concertos can fail to be seduced by this intoxicating work."

by Stephanie Low
President, Stephanie Low Artists, Inc.

Return to Top of Page . . . .

Home Page . . . .