Allan Pettersson: Symphonies 5 & 7 cover

Allan Pettersson: Symphonies 5 & 7

Composer
Released

Paralyzed by a debilitating case of rheumatoid arthritis, the Swedish composer Allan Petterson was largely confined to his cramped apartment in a loud industrial neighborhood of Stockholm while writing his Seventh Symphony in 1967. The psychological toll of his surroundings and near-complete isolation courses through the work. A hulking 40-minute monolith, the Symphony is driven by a menacing two-note motif that, like a Rothko color field painting, sluggishly oozes bleak grays and blacks across a colossal orchestral canvas. Christian Lindberg’s 2018 recording with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, released as part of an ongoing effort to record all of Pettersson’s orchestral works for Bis, reveals unexpected tenderness in the Symphony’s broad brushstrokes, aspiring to what the composer called the ultimate aim of his music: “to rediscover the song once sung by the soul.” 

Zev Kane

Suggestions
Penderecki: Fonogrammi; Horn Concerto; Partita cover

Penderecki: Fonogrammi; Horn Concerto; Partita

Jennifer Montone, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Antoni Wit
Belle Époque cover

Belle Époque

Daniel Hope
Moderato cantabile cover

Moderato cantabile

François Couturier, Anja Lechner
Berio: Rendering; Stanze cover

Berio: Rendering; Stanze

Christoph Eschenbach
Poulenc: Gloria; Stabat Mater cover

Poulenc: Gloria; Stabat Mater

Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, Kathleen Battle
Roberto Sierra: Cantares, Loíza & Triple Concierto cover

Roberto Sierra: Cantares, Loíza & Triple Concierto

Lanfranco Marcelletti, Jr., Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa
Many are the Wonders cover

Many are the Wonders

Suzi Digby, ORA Singers