B. Tommy Andersson & Malmö Symphony Orchestra - Nystroem: Symphony Nos. 4 and 6 (2004)

Gösta Nystroem may have been diffident in his life decisions -- he only chose music as a career in his mid-thirties -- but it is clear from the two works on this 2004 BIS release that he was an earnest composer indeed when he set his mind to it. Perhaps too earnest: the Symphony No. 4, "Sinfonia shakespeariana," and the Symphony No. 6, "Sinfonia Tramontana," are long essays of some technical competence, but also unrelievedly gray, joyless creations that require a great deal of patience to get through. Sections in Nystroem's movements alternate between galloping rhythmic episodes and slow, lugubrious dirges, and their moods shift back and forth between pointlessly energetic activity and brooding coldness. There is a lack of continuity within the movements and virtually no clue that they are connected externally, thus an impression is left that Nystroem had no overarching plans for his symphonies, other than to try a little of this, then a little of that. The Malmö Symphony Orchestra, under B. Tommy Andersson, try to hold these uninviting works together, but as skillful as their performances are, Nystroem has given them little to get excited about, except for some bombastic closing measures. BIS offers decent sound, though several soft passages are barely audible. -- Blair Sanderson