Wilhelm Stenhammar - Serenade & Excelsior! [Hi-Res] (2014)

‘Finland has Sibelius, Norway has Grieg and Denmark Nielsen – so what about Sweden?’ This question, often put to Swedish musicians and music-lovers, is one that has no simple answer. Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927), a personal friend of both Sibelius and Nielsen, would seem to be the obvious candidate – but when his name is suggested the usual reaction is ‘Stenhammar who?’

The symphonic overture Excelsior!, written for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1896, was composed only four years after Stenhammar made his début as a composer. Stenhammar had not yet entirely found his own voice, but the work displays an infectious exuberance and enthusiasm, contrasting with the more reflective ‘Interlude’ from the composer’s final large-scale work, the cantata Sången from 1921.

Closing the disc is the Serenade in F major, often regarded as Stenhammar’s finest orchestral score.

This is the Royal Flemish Philharmonic’s first recoding for BIS.