Stenhammar piano concertos on Naxos

[pianoconcerto]

A new CD of both Stenhammar piano concertos is out on Naxos (8.572259).  Niklas Sivelöv is the pianist and he plays the works faster than anyone else.  The first concerto, for ex., is 5+ minutes less than on the Chandos recording, and even the shorter second concerto is several minutes less.  Some may like that, others not.  The orchestra is the Malmö SO conducted by Venzago.

Comparison of timings:
Concerto No. 1:  41:43 (Naxos), 45:50 (BIS), 45:53 (Hyperion), 47:18 (Chandos)
Concerto No. 2:  25:50 (Naxos), 28:43 (BIS), 29:21 (Hyperion)

As far as I can tell, there are no cuts, just faster performances, on the Naxos.  Btw, Amazon now has this available for mp3 download.

[Syrelius]

It sounds as if Sivelöv gives a very personal interpretation of the two works. Interesting!

[Alan Howe]

Hopefully it'll do the reputations of the pieces a power of good to have them on Naxos at budget price.

[Gerhard Griesel]

Like (I'm sure) many of you, I have Stenhammar's PC 1 & 2 on the Hyperion label. Just the other day I had a good listening session and there is a lot of meat in both. E.g. in the first two movements of Concerto 2, the soloist and orchestra play in different keys. However, they do take turns to play most of the time, so it is not as complicated as it may sound. It would really be interesting to hear a faster version. The Hyperion concertos are 15:34 and 29:21 minutes and Seta Tanyel is the pianist.

[Steve B]

The first concerto is beautiful, especially the seraphic melody and ending of the finale. Steve

[chill319]

Yes, let's hope this Naxos performance brings Stenhammar a wider audience. With the steep decline in the States of brick-and-mortar enterprises stocking classical discs (the latest casualty being much of the Borders chain), Naxos may not have the visibility -- and influence -- it had 10 years ago.

Regarding performances, it's just an opinion, but for Concerto 2 I keep coming back to the robust and vivid performance by Janos Solyom and the redoubtable Stig Westerberg on EMI.

[eschiss1]

I asked Klaus Heymann by email, if I remember (and this was some time back and I am not at all sure that I do) if he was considering recording Stenhammar's quartets for Naxos.  I think he was considering it but reasons, either performer- or market-related, intervened; don't remember. Even though there's still (I think?) a complete recording out, individual recordings of several occasionally available and others are broadcast (several studio recordings of quartets 2-5 have been broadcast on, I think, P2 Swedish radio, and from there to BBC Euroclassic  Notturno aka Through the Night). My interest stems in large part, btw, from the fact which I am sure I have mentioned much too often, that his quartet no.4 is one of my top two or three favorite pieces (full stop). Quartet 3, not far from.
Eric

[JimL]

Like (I'm sure) many of you, I have Stenhammar's PC 1 & 2 on the Hyperion label. Just the other day I had a good listening session and there is a lot of meat in both. E.g. in the first two movements of Concerto 2, the soloist and orchestra play in different keys. However, they do take turns to play most of the time, so it is not as complicated as it may sound. It would really be interesting to hear a faster version. The Hyperion concertos are 15:34 and 29:21 minutes and Seta Tanyel is the pianist.

15:34 for the first concerto?  Maybe you meant 25:34.  I don't care how fast you take it, that whole 3 movement concerto isn't going to clock in at under 25 minutes.

[Alan Howe]

29:21 for PC1 seems decidedly fast too!! In fact the Hyperion performance clocks in at over 46 minutes.

[chill319]

Similarly, the Widlund/Rozhdestvensky performance of PC1 on Chandos finishes at 47:18. Surely there are cuts in the Naxos?

Eric, I too find the Stenhammar cycle of quartets one of the most satisfying in this rarified repertoire.

[eschiss1]

the timings for the Naxos Stenhammar concertos disc can be found here. The 2nd concerto times in at 14:38/4:54/6:29 ; the 4 (no, 3 did not sound right...) movement 1st concerto with 14:10/5:02/10:11/12:24. (41 minutes 57 seconds - which I agree is still significantly faster) . 15'34" is just a little into the second movement of either of the concertos...

[JimL]

By gum!  I just broke out my CDs of both concertos, and they're both 4 movement works!  Thanks for refreshing my memory.

[alberto]

The first recording of Stenhammar First PC was released by Sterling on LP in 1976 (Sterling S-1004).
Irène Manheimer pianist, Charles Dutoit cond., Goteborg Symph.Orch.
Timings 16'05" - 5' 00" - 13' 20" - 14' 05".
It is the only version I have (while, much loving the second PC, I bought Solyom in LP, but later also Ortìz in CD).
I'll certainly buy the Naxos.

[Ilja]

The first recording of Stenhammar First PC was released by Sterling on LP in 1976 (Sterling S-1004).
Irène Manheimer pianist, Charles Dutoit cond., Goteborg Symph.Orch.
Timings 16'05" - 5' 00" - 13' 20" - 14' 05".
It is the only version I have (while, much loving the second PC, I bought Solyom in LP, but later also Ortìz in CD).
I'll certainly buy the Naxos.

That first recording was with Atterberg's orchestration, not Stenhammar's own which has since been found again. In fact I rather like what Atterberg did - it has become a bit more mellow because of the 'impressionistic' touches to it.

[JimL]

I put my CDs back in my collection, but I remember that the 1st is on BIS and the 2nd is coupled with the Tor Aulin 3rd VC.  I think that's on Sterling, but don't hold me to it.