Unsung Composers

The Music => Composers & Music => Topic started by: Ilja on Monday 26 July 2021, 08:53

Title: Hjalmar Borgstrøm's Symphony in G
Post by: Ilja on Monday 26 July 2021, 08:53
I don't think mention has been made yet of forum member Tuomas Palojärvi's reconstruction of Hjalmar Borgstrøm's symphony in G of 1890. You can hear the result here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrwa3lQBsk8&t=1584s) (Dorico/Noteperformer). A fine work, full of atmospheric and dramatic touches.
Title: Re: Hjalmar Borgstrøm's Symphony in G
Post by: Mark Thomas on Monday 26 July 2021, 09:02
Yes, it's a fine, muscular Nordic work and all credit to Tuomas for breathing life back into it.
Title: Re: Hjalmar Borgstrøm's Symphony in G
Post by: tpaloj on Monday 26 July 2021, 10:00
Thanks for the mention - this was a challenging task as it seems the full score has not survived (would need confirmation if this indeed is the case?). Reconstructed from a copyist's handwritten set of parts.

Heavily orchestrated particularly often with the brass yet musically lively with some excellent themes, fine writing for an early opus work. Especially I feel the passionate Andante movement is something special. Finale towards the end combines themes from earlier movements to a great conclusion.
Title: Re: Hjalmar Borgstrøm's Symphony in G
Post by: eschiss1 on Monday 26 July 2021, 13:13
I am guessing the parts of this first of his 2 or more symphonies can be seen at the Norwegian National Library website. It was indeed premiered in 1890. See Dutch Wikipedia (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symfonie_nr._1_(Borgstr%C3%B8m)) which has articles on many of his works including his symphonies. Apologies for the tangent though!
Title: Re: Hjalmar Borgstrøm's Symphony in G
Post by: semloh on Monday 02 August 2021, 11:52
Oh yes, a very impressive and distinctively Nordic symphony! The accompanying photograph nicely captures the feeling. Thank you, Tuomas.
Title: Re: Hjalmar Borgstrøm's Symphony in G
Post by: tpaloj on Tuesday 03 August 2021, 08:16
Thanks for the kind words. You can download this preliminary score which, for now, lacks proper formatting but should hopefully be enough to follow along for better evaluating the work. I hope it can be useful for now until (or if ever) there becomes real need for creating a well-proofread and formatted conductor's score in the future.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m0grqjsheuz3idv/Hjalmar%20Borgstrom%2C%20Symphony%20in%20G%20-%20preliminary%20score.pdf?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/m0grqjsheuz3idv/Hjalmar%20Borgstrom%2C%20Symphony%20in%20G%20-%20preliminary%20score.pdf?dl=0)