RECORDING OF THE MONTH RECORDING OF THE MONTH BARGAIN OF THE MONTH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS A London Symphony Oboe Concerto £11 post free World-wide RACHMANINOV Elegy, Preludes, Piano concerto 3 £12 post free World-wide CHAUSSON, DEBUSSY RACHMANINOV TRios 2CDs £16 post free World-wide

AVAILABILITY www.phonosuecia.com

Henrik STRINDBERG (b.1954) Within Trees Utvald/Chosen (1998) Annika Skoglund (soprano)/The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/B Tommy Andersson Two Pianos (1992) Mats Widlund and Ann-Sofi Klingberg (piano) Hopp/Hope – Hope I-IV Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (1997) Jörgen Petterson (alto saxophone)/The Norrköping Symphony Orchestra/Lü Jia Cheap Thrills (1993/94) Sonanza/Jan Risberg I träd/Within Trees I and II (1986-88/89) The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra/Friedrich Goldmann Recorded Berwald Hall 1999 (Utvald), Radiohuset, Stockholm 2000 (2 Pianos), Louis De Geer Hall, 2001 (Hope), Radiohuset, Stockholm, 2002 (Cheap Thrills), Berwald Hall, 1989 (I träd) PHONO SUECIA PSCD 124 [66.20]

Strindberg began his musical life as a rock musician. He performed for a number of years with the progressive group Ragnarök (playing flute it seems, maybe inter alia) but studied at the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm from 1980-87. At present he teaches at the Gotland School of Composition. He’s now fifty, time for an appraisal of the music he’s written within the last sixteen years or so. Since his avowed position is to make music "without any compromises" we are in for a rocky path with some of these works. Utvald features an occasionally counter-tenor like soprano, Annika Skoglund, and music that moves from meditative and almost static to suddenly eruptive, with sinuous drones, percussive interjections, and cymbals clashes. Strindberg also utilises electronics – and a kind of heavy metal vicious sonority that I happen to find unpleasant. 2 Pianos predates Utvald and scores more highly for its playfulness and use of repetition, rhythmic displacement and more controlled fractiousness, which is more deliberately corralled in this medium. Hopp (Hope) is a saxophone concerto. For a few bars I thought he was sailing close to Nyman’s bark, but it’s a chimera; squawky, bloody-minded and off-putting, it’s Birtwistle’s Panic without his daemonic drama. I träd/Within Trees is the earliest work here – in two parts. The first is heavy on the metallic with stiff percussion and tinkling bells – nowhere near as relaxing as you might imagine. The booklet features diagrams – ones that look like the progress charts of a knockout sporting competition finally emerging with the one winning box. As for the composer I admire Strindberg’s single-mindedness but I can’t understand his music and the more I heard the less I understood. Jonathan Woolf   Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage There will be NO VAT Rises [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Return to Index

Reviews from previous months Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.