Stenhammar

Stenhammar: A musical portrait [CD]

Stenhammar: Orkestermusik [3 CD]

Stenhammar: Symphony No 2 / Serenade [SACD Hybrid]

"Naturligtvis ska en stråkkvartett som tagit sitt namn efter Stenhammar spela in hans sex kvartetter. För svenska kvartetter är de samma sak som Bartóks för ungerska och Sjostakovitjs för ryska. Det innebär också att de propsar på samma utrymme som sina föregångare, i fallet med Stenhammarkvartettens första skiva - med den tredje och fjärde kvartetten - främst Gotlandskvartettens lysande inspelningar från 1983. Faktum är att valet fallit på exakt samma inspelningsrum, Petruskyrkan i Stocksund. <br/><br/>Ändå är det just klangrummet som ger upphov till ett uns invändning: det är lite konturlöst. Akuratess, detaljarbete och subtiliteter saknas annars inte, för Stenhammarkvartetten tillhör Sveriges elit. Lyssna till den spelmansartade inledningen till fjärde kvartettens final, där det nästan låter nyckelharpa understrykande det originella hos Stenhammar, trots den stora avhängigheten av den dyrkade Beethoven. Det de fyra musikerna bidrar med är synnerligen välljudande, skimrande tolkningar. Kanske är det dags för Stenhammar att bli lite berömd utomlands."<br/><br/>Erik Wallrup (SvD)

If there is one Swedish composer in the early 20th century who in some way can compare with Sibelius and Nielsen, it is Wilhelm Stenhammar - incidentally a personal friend of both these towering figures in Nordic music. And in Stenhammar's production - which includes songs, piano music and large-scale orchestral works - his string quartets form a special chapter. The seven quartets (of which one, in F minor, was withdrawn by the composer soon after its first performance) were written over the space of 22 years, and mirror Stenhammar's development, from full-blown Romanticism to a more sparse and formally concentrated idiom. As a pianist, Stenhammar worked closely for many years with the Aulin Quartet, the finest Swedish string quartet of its time. (It was the Aulin Quartet that gave the first performances of all Stenhammar's quartets up to and including No.4 in A minor, Op.25.) <br/><br/>His familiarity with the medium is evident in these works which have been described as 'the most important written between those of Brahms and Bartók', but which still remain less well-known internationally than they deserve. In a bid to change this, the Stenhammar Quartet here present the first disc in a trilogy which will include the six quartets published during the composer's lifetime, as well as the F minor quartet - for the first time on disc - and other music for string quartet. Making its first appearance on BIS, the Stenhammar Quartet was formed in 2002 and has made a name for itself in Sweden and internationally as interpreters of Stenhammar's music, as well as of core repertoire and contemporary works.<br/><br/><br/><br/>.

Stenhammar: Symfoni 1 F-dur [CD]

Stenhammar: Stråkkvartett 3 & 4 [CD]