The premiere of Kleven's Symphonic Fantasy in 1926 was called "the greatest musical scandal of the 1920s in Oslo," with critics describing it as "disgustingly ugly" and painful to the ears.
Composer Biography
Arvid Kleven, born in Trondheim in 1899, was largely self-taught as a composer, aside from short study visits to Paris and Berlin.
Critical Reception
Arvid Kleven's orchestral work, Skogens søvn (The Sleeping Forest), was "savaged by the reviewers" in daily newspapers, with one critic suggesting it should be called 'When the forest is wide awake' due to its 'racket'.
Composer Biography
Arvid Kleven died of rheumatic fever in 1929, just five days before his thirtieth birthday, preventing him from completing a substantial body of work.
Recording & Production
The scores for some of Kleven's works, including Sinfonia libera in due parte, had to be reconstructed from incomplete or error-filled orchestral parts for this recording, a monumental task undertaken by Robert Rønnes.
Performer Biography
Susanna Mälkki, the conductor of this album, had a successful career as a cellist, including co-principal in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, before she began her conducting studies.
Composition History
Kleven's Symphonic Fantasy and Sinfonia libera in due parte were not performed again during the 20th century after his early death, partly because the scores were never published and required reconstruction.
