Pettersson: Concerto for Violin and String Quartet

Featuring

Ulf Wallin
Sueye Park
Daniel Vlashi Lukaçi
German Tcakulov
Alexander Wollheim
Thomas Hoppe

Allan Pettersson

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Composer Biography

Allan Pettersson, one of Sweden's foremost symphonic composers, grew up in a cramped, damp basement flat in a working-class neighborhood, which he claimed was the origin of his later arthritis.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Pettersson described his Concerto for Violin and String Quartet as "charged to breaking point with dissonance," stating it absorbed the pain of the poor, broken, sick, and cowed people from his upbringing.

Composer Biography

A turning point in Pettersson's studies was switching from violin to viola, an instrument on which he quickly became prominent, even participating in the first Swedish performance of Arnold Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire in 1937.

Composition History

Pettersson's teacher, Gustaf Nordqvist, encouraged his early compositional efforts, exclaiming, "Put your name to it. You are a composer," after hearing his Two Elegies for violin and piano.

Critical Reception

The premiere of Pettersson's Concerto for Violin and String Quartet in 1951 caused "utter turmoil among the critics," who called him an "ultra-difficult expressionist" and a "controversial modernist."

Composer Biography

Pettersson's early musical experiences came from street musicians, his mother singing religious songs, and his siblings playing instruments like the zither, mandolin, and violin.