Neeme Järvi, the conductor on this recording, was born in Estonia in 1937 and received his main conducting training in Leningrad.
Composition History
Stenhammar dedicated his G minor Symphony to the members of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, premiering it with them in 1915.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Stenhammar consciously aimed to write "sober and honest music free of flashiness" in his G minor Symphony, moving away from Wagnerian influences.
Composition History
Stenhammar's concert-overture Excelsior! is dedicated to the Berlin Philharmonic, which gave its first performance under its principal conductor Arthur Nikisch.
Compositional Technique
The first movement of Stenhammar's G minor Symphony blends Swedish folk idiom with vocal polyphony, using archaic tonal language and modes instead of typical major-minor relationships.
Recording & Production
This recording was made in Gothenburg Concert Hall, which is considered one of the world's best concert venues, a fact scientifically supported by acoustic studies and interviews with international conductors.
Composer Biography
Wilhelm Stenhammar, the composer, studied piano in Berlin in the 1890s and later performed his own Piano Concerto in B minor with Richard Strauss conducting.
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