From the fjords to the Baltic Sea, from the realm of the reindeer to an island forged in fire and ice, Scandinavia has captured the imagination of wanderers and wonderers around the world. It’s a region rich with history, one that spans from before the rugged reign of the Vikings to some of the most affluent and progressive societies of today. It also boasts a proud and distinct musical heritage that incorporates land, legend, and culture as effectively as any other corner of the globe. This is the mystical, mighty sound of the Northern Lights.
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1. Traditional – Ye Honest Bridal Couple/Sønderho Bridal Trilogy Part I – This track marries two traditional wedding songs, the first from the far-flung, foggy Faroe Islands, and the second from Fanø Island, just off the west coast of Denmark. It is performed by the Danish String Quartet, who channel their finely honed technical chops into a beguiling arrangement that kicks off one of the best new classical releases of the year.
2. Lars-Erik Larsson – Förklädd Gud (God in Disguise): Kring höstlig vaktelds bränder – Premiered on a Swedish broadcast in 1940, Larson’s
God in Disguise includes musical passages intercut with narration, a form popular with radio at the time. Both thematically and musically, the work is a plea for simplicity composed at a time when the world was becoming torn apart by war. It continues to be one of Larsson’s best-known contributions to the Swedish repertoire.
3. Jean Sibelius – Karelia Suite, Op. 11: III. Alla marcia: Moderato – The Karelia region lies in eastern Finland, on the border with Russia. It was an area much loved of Sibelius; as a young man he was fascinated by its folk music, and he also spent his honeymoon there. The suite which the region inspired was intentionally simple in style, as Sibelius felt this would lend a greater air of authenticity to the folk-inspired work.
4. Carl Nielsen – Symphony No. 5, Op. 50: II. Allegro – Completed in January 1922, Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony carries no intentional influence of World War I, but in the composer’s own words, “not one of us is the same as we were before the war.” Upon hearing it, it’s not hard to conclude that the war did indeed play a role in the symphony. A fun side note for Star Wars fans: While presumably a coincidence, one recurring five-note motif (for example, 1:59-2:06) might sound quite familiar to you.
5. Edvard Grieg – 2 Elegiac Melodies, Op. 34: No. 2, Våren (The Last Spring) – Grieg set 12 poems by Norwegian nationalist poet Aasmund Olafsson Vinje to music, then arranged two of these melodies for string orchestra. The poem upon which this track is based depicts a springtime colored by the recognition that a person might not live to see another, and this blend of renewal and farewell is masterfully expressed in the music.
6. Ole Bull - Et Sæterbesøg (A Mountain Vision) – Bull is known best as a highly successful violinist who was described by Robert Schumann as being on the same level as the legendary Niccolò Paganini. Though he composed over seventy works, only about ten are much known today, including this folk-influenced piece for solo violin and orchestra. He was also a friend of the Grieg family, and he recognized and encouraged young Edvard’s talent.
7. Niels Gade – Et Folkesagn (A Folk Tale): Brudevalsen (Bridal Waltz) - Niels Gade was an important influence on several Scandinavian composers who followed him, including Edvard Grieg and Carl Nielsen, and he is considered to be the greatest Danish composer of his generation. His Brudevalsen became a vital part of Danish weddings, but it is said that he didn’t judge it to be particularly great at the time, and that it had to be rescued from a trash can.
8. Wilhelm Stenhammar – String Quartet No. 5 in C major, Op. 29, “Serenade”: II. Ballata: Allegretto scherzando – Stenhammar had quite the varied output, and though he was a pianist himself (the finest Swedish pianist of his time at that), his string quartets have been described as the most important works in that form between Brahms and Bartók. However, they remain relatively unknown outside Sweden, and unjustly so.
9. Kurt Atterberg – Symphony No. 2 in F major, Op. 6: II. Adagio – Presto – Adagio – Presto – Adagio – Atterberg was 24 and finishing up his engineering studies when he began work on his Symphony No. 2. That summer was spent in the Stockholm archipelago, sleeping on bare cliffs where he “was not precisely alone…” as he cryptically put it. This second movement, composed at the time, certainly hints at a youthful exuberance sparked by more than just the beautiful landscape.
10. Vagn Holmboe – Viola Concerto, Op. 189: I. Allegro moderato, ma con forza – Danish composer Vagn Holmboe may have been 82 when he composed his Viola Concerto, but the work crackles with the energy and bravura of a youthful spirit. While his work typically is solidly Nordic in style, this concerto contains a slight Jewish influence as well, in honor of Israeli virtuoso Rivka Golani, for whom the work was written.
11. Kaija Saariaho – Notes on Light: II. On Fire – Saariaho was known early in her career as a post-serialist composer, but she grew tired of its restrictions, saying “I don’t want to write music through negations. Everything is permissible as long as it’s done in good taste.” Her work also became less reliant on electronics and more open to melody.
Notes on Light is a cello concerto composed in 2007 that is indicative of this Finnish composer’s development.
12. Kalevi Aho – Symphony No. 12, “Luosto”: I. Samaanit (The Shamans) – A tremendously prolific composer, Aho frequently draws inspiration from Finland’s past. This is especially evident in this symphony, which was premiered on a mountainside in Lapland. It conjures up images of the region’s primeval past, full of superstition and rugged landscapes, with music that is brutal, beautiful, and majestic each in turn.
13. Esa-Pekka Salonen – Nachtlieder: III. Frei, wie Kadenz – Salonen, of Finland, is probably better known as a conductor, but he’s also won prestige for his compositions, to the point that both talents were featured in
a recent advertisement for Apple’s iPad Air. The work included here is a movement from a suite for solo clarinet and piano that he composed when he was only 20 years old, a brief inkling of the great things to come.
14. Jón Leifs – Requiem, Op. 33b – Musically speaking, Iceland is best known for contemporary artists like Sigur Rós and Björk, but Jón Leifs is the captivating island nation’s most prominent classical composer. His short choral piece titled
Requiem is one of four works he composed for his daughter Líf, who drowned in 1947 when she was only 18. The constantly shifting major-to-minor tonalities are a heart-wrenching expression of both tender love and inexpressible grief.
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