Gavle Symphony, B. Tommy Andersson - Atterberg: Piano Concerto and Violin Concerto (1999)

Kurt Atterberg (1887-1974) became briefly notorious when he won a $10,000 prize for a symphony in commemoration of Schubert in 1928, then later admitted he had written the piece with a cynical attitude simply to win the prize. (It became known in Sweden as his Dollar Symphony.) But he was a serious composer of some accomplishment, although his late-romantic style hardly seems to belong to the 20th century. Oddly, the later Piano Concerto (completed in 1935) seems like the less successful work here, as Atterberg strives for a heroic style that doesn't seem natural to him. The earlier Violin Concerto (1914) has a rhapsodic quality that suits the nature of the instrument well and will entertain a listener who doesn't insist on Beethovenian development. The performances and recordings are obviously labors of love and present the music quite well. --Leslie Gerber