Angel Song

I am really too busy and stressed out (yes, tried to deny it, but I really am, haven´t even put up Christmas decorations yet) to post, but I decided to sit down and find my favourite Christmas song ever, all categories (it´s actually a psalm). This is a lovely version from Swedish Television a few years back with Sofia Karlsson looking like an angel, singing "Frid på jorden" (= peace on earth) and then "Gläns över sjö och strand" (= glitter over lake and shore). Enjoy!

(on youtube by Kaare K Johnsen)

Swedish Composer - Wilhelm Peterson-Berger

There is no way one can try to map out the Swedish national sound and pass by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, I didn´t even have to consult the husband to figure this one out. Peterson-Berger belongs to the national-romantic tradition, a visit to Jämtland in the 1880´s so influenced him that he built a house on Frösö, where he lived in his retirement. He was also for many years a music critic at Dagens Nyheter, a Swedish national newspaper.

Here is Frösöblomster (= Flowers at Frösö):

(on youtube by PalmideArtaserse)

Swedish Composer - Hilding Rosenberg

Hilding Rosenberg is considered the first modernist composer in Sweden, and composed, among other things, seven symphonies, seven operas, and seven ballets. He was the son of a gardener and able to study at the Royal College of Music thanks to a scholarship. He took private lessons from Wilhelm Stenhammar.

This is the ballet "Orpeus in Town" (I´m not sure why the film is numbered 1/2, it seems to be the whole ballet), inspired by the Orpeus statue by Carl Milles that stands in front of Stockholm Concert Hall.

(on youtube by bartje11)

Swedish Composer - Wilhelm Stenhammar

Not only was he very handsome - I have become quite obsessed with drawing his wonderful, aristocratic features (really, his mother was a countess) - but Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871 - 1927) is one of our greats, with many symphonies to choose from. He also composed for the theatre, wrote chamber music, choir works, and piano pieces.

I asked the husband for a "hitsong" by Stenhammar, but he couldn´t really name one. So I have listened through some of his repertoire on youtube and came up with this: Petter Mattei´s and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra´s performance, conducted by Manfred Honeck, of "Ithaka", a poem by Oscar Levertin, set to music by Stenhammar in 1904.

It is particularly apt right now, since it was only a few weeks ago that Peter Mattei recieved an honorary doctorate at our local university. Yes, he is one or ours! When I moved to town, he was just starting out, and was known as the guy working for the local sewage cleaning company, who had one heck of a voice...

(on youtube by Канал пользователя aoidedioa)

Jag drömt som främling på en främmad strand (as a stranger on a strange shore I have dreamed)
Gud vet hur många år.                                   (God knows how many years)
Nu vill jag hem. Jag redan lagt från land,          (now I want to go home. I have already left the shore)
i silkesseglet stormen slår.                             (my silk sail flaps in the wind.)

Framåt mot obefarna vattendrag                     (towards unchartered waters)
förbi Herakles' stoder                                     (past the pillars of Heracles)
mot fjärran ö i blå arkipelag                             (towards a faraway island in a blue archipelago)
jag vridit skeppets roder.                                (I have turned my ship´s rudder.)

Där ligger solskenslyst i havets mitt                (there, lit by the sun in the middle of the sea)
mitt Ithaka, den ö,                                         (is Ithaka, my island)
där fruktträdsvalven evigt lysa vitt                     (where the fruit trees arch, ever white)
och dyningarna dö                                          (where the swell dies.)

i säven som en mattad aftonsång                    (In the rush, as a muted evensong)
från kärleksdomnad lyra,                                 (from a love numb lyre)
dit, vore färden än så hård och lång,                 (there, even if the journey is hard and long)
vill jag min farkost styra.                                 (I want to steer my vessel.)

Där stå det vita, marmorsvala hus,                   (there stands the white, marble cool house)
i vilket jag vill bo.                                            (in which I want to live)
Där silverpoppeln har det högtidssus,                (where the silver poplar sings to feast)
som hägnar med sin ro.                                  (enticing me to rest)

Ack, världens vägar, jag är trött på dem!            (oh, how tired I am of the world´s roads)
Jag hör det dunkla kravet                                  (I hear the vague demand)
mot längtans Ithaka, mitt hjärtats hem,              (fromthe Ithaka of my longing, the home of my heart)
min vita ö i havet.                                             (my white island in the sea)

På hemfärd stadd jag lyssnar så förstrött            (going home, I listen absent-mindedly)
på livets lust och larm                                        (to the noise and joy of life)
som på en man, som av en slump mig mött         (as at a man I have met by coincidence)
och håller fast min arm.                                     (who holds my arm)

I bröder, än jag går som en bland er,                   (you brothers, still I walk among you)
men ren mot slag som smekning                        (but numb to both slap and caress)
med avskedsstundens gåtfullhet jag ler.               (I smile the enigmatic smile of parting)
Jag har gjort upp min räkning.                             (I have settled my debts)

Blott starkare förnimmer jag var dag                    (I percieve stronger by the day)
den manande musik,                                         (the calling music)
som eko är av kvällens böljeslag                         (as echoes of the evening waves)
emot min hemös vik.                                         (towards my island´s bay)

Jag drömmer lutad över skeppets toft.                 (I dream, leaning on my ship´s thwart)
I skum delfiner skalkas,                                     (dolphins are playing in the waves)
än syns ej ön, men luftens mandeldoft                (the island is not yet sighted, but the scent of almonds)
förtäljer, att jag nalkas.                                       (tell me that I am near)

Så vill jag bära allt, vad än en man                       (so I want to carry all, that a man)
kan bära utav ve,                                                (can carry of woes)
ty ett jag vet, ej evigt räcka kan                            (because I know this: not forever can this)
mitt hjärtas odyssé.                                             (journey of my heart go on)

Min sorgs, min glädjes skiljemynt--allt glöms         (my grief, the token of my joy, is all forgotten)
som mull i mull begravet,                                     (as earth buried in earth)
när skeppet når sitt Ithaka, sin dröms                   (when the ship reaches its Ithaka, its dream´s)
vårvita ö i havet.                                                  (spring white island in the sea)

(my own quick&dirty translation)

Swedish Composer - Lars-Erik Larsson

I love this! Actually, if the husband and I have anything to call "our song" it´s "Förklädd gud" (= God in Disguise) by Lars-Erik Larsson. Lyrics are by Hjalmar Gullberg, a Swedish poet that really deserves a long post over at the Bookshelf blog. When we met, the husband had just done a recording of this work for radio, and he gave me a cassette with it and other recordings he had made. I was charmed, of course. Since then I have seen it performed several times. It is a very popular piece to perform in churches.

The poem - based on a mythological story of Apollo living as a mortal for a year, working as a farm hand, but alluding to Christ - was written in the early 30´s and set to music in 1939, performed for the first time in 1940. Gullberg added a few lines to it, as a comment to the Nazi aggressions:

Ej för de starka i världen, men för de svaga.
Ej för krigare, men för bönder som plöjt
sin jordlott utan att klaga, spelar en gud på flöjt.
Det är en grekisk saga.

Not for the strong in the world but for the feeble. 
Not for the warlike, but for the humble 
who till the soil without a grumble 
a god plays on a flute. 
It is a Grecian fable.

You can find a pdf with the entire lyric in English here.  

This is a very classy performance by The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Choir, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. If this doesn´t melt your heart, I don´t know what would. If you want more Larsson, I can recommend his "Pastoralsvit" (= Pastoral Suite), another classic.

(on youtube by Classical Music)

Swedish Composer - Hugo Alfvén

Hugo Alfvén is probably a lot more internationally known than the previous composers I have played for you. He even has a long Wikipedia entry in English. This is a name most Swedes know, he is one of those who created the Swedish soundtrack, as it were. He also wrote and painted, and I found one of his watercolours from Anacapri, Italy, on Swedish Radio´s website. Pretty.

His most famous work internationally - or so the husband thinks - is a work called "Midsommarvaka" (= midsummer wake), also known as "Swedish Rhapsody". But I have chosen this one, "Vallflickans dans" (= the shepherd-girl´s dance), which is also charming.

(on youtube by miljkmi)

Swedish Composer - August Söderman

This composer is earlier than the others, August Söderman lived from 1832 - 1876 and was very productive during his short life. This was the Romantic age and many of his works are about boys and girls dancing in the moonlight, pretty flowers, heartbreak, and magnificent weddings.

This is one of his most played works, the wedding march from the theatrical drama "Bröllop på Ulvåsa" (= the wedding on Ulvåsa) that was written by the dramatist Frans Hedberg. I could only find amateur recordings on youtube, and this is the best one; kind of charming.

(on youtube by Mikael Högström)

Swedish Composer - Sven Sköld

Just listening to what the husband is playing over in his corner and then googling it on youtube (easy blogging!). Found this charming little film from St Gertrud´s church in Västervik (no info on the performers) where they are playing Sven Sköld´s "Summer", a piece I think most Swedes have heard, but perhaps can not say where. He seems to have mostly done music for films, according to Wikipedia; this is probably his most played piece.

(on youtube by piamorex)

Swedish Composer - Dag Wirén

This weekend, the husband played a lot of music for us (through his computer, it´s been a long while since he played any of his instruments, or even the record player) and it occured to me that I should do a series on Swedish composers. Not that I know much about music, rarely listen to it these days (I so appreciate silence, which is probably an age thing), but when I do, classical symphonic music gives me the most joy. I love the complexity of it, I think - there is so much going on with orchestral pieces.

This is Dag Wirén´s Serenade for Strings, or a piece of it, played by Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. I am not going to repeat what Wikipedia says about him; in case you are interested, go there. Enjoy!

(on youtube by stravinsky91)

Symphony Hall

In 2009, I spent a few days in Birmingham on my own, and was lucky enough to be able to attend a concert at the wonderful Symphony Hall, which is situated at the Centenary Square in the company of the ICC (the convention centre), the Hyatt Hotel, the Repertory Theatre, and recently, the city library.

They had something called Igorfest during April and May of that year, a final instalment in a series that had been going for four years, a project to perform Stravinsky´s complete works. What I got to hear was his Biblical Works: Babel; Abraham and Isaac; The Flood; A Sermon, a Narrative and a Prayer; and lastly, Threni - Lamentations of Jerusalem. They had a pre-concert talk where you could get some background and it was most interesting, although I remember little of it now. One of the works, it might have been The Flood, had only been performed once before, and none of them are often performed, which made it all the more sad that there were so few in the audience.

When it started, I recognized the voice of the reciter, and it turned out to be one of my favourite actors! Samuel West was, among other things, Anthony Blunt in "The Cambridge Spies", a series we have seen several times. (His mother is the wonderful Prunella Scales, Sybil Fawlty in "Fawlty Towers"). West often narrates television documentaries and it has happened that I watched something less interesting just to hear him speak. (I may have mentioned his gorgeous voice and this concert before.)

This time, there was no concert on while we were there, but the kind concierge at the ICC let us in for ten minutes to take pictures and just admire it. He said it is built on springs to prevent the vibrations from the trains going underneath it to reach the hall. It was obvious that he was very proud of it and very proud of his city, too. And rightly so. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is perhaps most famous for having had Sir Simon Rattle as their conductor for almost two decades.

Motherhood in Art - Education of the Virgin

Every year, Luleå municipality buys art for 200.000 SEK and places it in different public places and offices. Every year, the art is hung in the Art Gallery for a month, and everyone is invited to look and vote on where each piece of art goes. It used to be that only employees of the municipality could vote, but some of my friends and I (and, no doubt, several others) protested and left our votes anyway, seeing as it is our tax money after all, and we spend a lot of time in some of those public places. It´s nice to see that it´s possible to change things, even if this was a minor one.

One painting that made an impression on me this year was this: "Motherhood" by Eva Zettervall. It immediately made me think of a subject in Christian art called "Virgin and Child with Saint Anne" (in Swedish "Anna Själv Tredje"), where Virgin Mary´s mother Anne holds both her and the Christ child in her knee. I find it an interesting composition, with the mirror-image of the woman, her arms empty there. And the wading bird on her shoulder that seems to correspond to some kind of beetle in the reflection. And that lizzard, what´s that about?

A googling of the artist reveals that she has made similar compositions with mothers and children, and reflections. She doesn´t seem to have a website, but she has been around for long, with many exhibitions, and there are some articles about her.

Actually, I think that the Swedish name of this subject (very similar to the German, and other European languages as well), which, if you translate it word by word, is "Anna Herself Third" is more evocative than "Virgin and Child with Saint Anne". It is almost like a short poem, a riddle of sort. Perhaps that is why it stuck in my head. Swedish singer-songwriter Anna Järvinen released an album a few years back also titled "Anna Själv Tredje". Here is a song from that album:

Also, spring is on the way: the birds are singing like crazy every morning. I think the chaffinch-train arrived on Monday, because three of them have been serenading since then from their selected trees. The magpie couple in the birch in front of the record store is at work mending the roof of their nest. And the hares are very scruffy-looking now, shedding their pretty winter fur. I am wearing summer shoes.

With Eyes Sensitive To Green

I saw a documentary a few days ago about Barbro Hörberg, a Swedish singer-songwriter who was very popular when I was little. She died in 1976 from breast-cancer, only 43 years old. She was on television a lot, and as we only had two channels at the time, she was very hard to miss. I also remember how disturbing it was that she died, how sad it was. I find it hard to stop thinking about her now.

This is probably her most famous song, certainly everyone my age and older remembers it, "Med ögon känsliga för grönt" (= with eyes sensitive to green). The music was written by Nils Hansén. (This clip from a television performance was put on Youtube by Lennart Ljung. The song begins around 2:25.)

Och tänk i parken, om våren  /  And imagine, in the park, in springtime
Med ögon känsliga för grönt  /  With eyes sensitive to green
Och kastanjeblad som paraplyer  /  And chestnut leaves like umbrellas
Och våra händer känsliga för allt som är skönt  /  And our hands, sensitive to all that´s beatiful

Vi vek en duva av papper  /  We folded a bird from a piece of paper
I vinden seglade den långt  /  It sailed far in the wind
Och den landade på en staty som  /  And it landed on a statue that
Fick ändra alla orden i sin sång  /  Had to change all the words in its song

Det regnade, men bilderna blev bra  /  It rained, but the pictures turned out well
Det var ett egendomligt ljus den dan  /  It was a strange light that day
Vi fyllde våra ögon                           / We filled our eyes
Med ljuset och tankarna på allt det nya  /  With light and thoughts of all that´s new

Och tänk i parken, om våren  /  And imagine, in the park, in springtime
Med ögon känsliga för grönt  /  With eyes sensitive to green
Och kastanjeblad som paraplyer  /  And chestnut leaves like umbrellas
Jag älskade dig då, det gör jag nu  /  I loved you then, I love you now

(translated by me, quick and dirty)

Pretty music

Saturday afternoon, we spent an hour or so at the Art gallery listening to a song recital, lieder by Sibelius, Debussy and Paul Schierbeck. There was also some lyrical piano pieces by Grieg. The soprano was Lona Beccau, the pianist Helge Kjekshus. I found a few clips on youtube from a previous concert, same programme, but the recording is so badly made, I will not pain you with them.

Beccau was great, not just a fabulous voice, but fittingly flirty and charming. Kjekshus plays with great feeling, as always. Not that I am much of a judge of music, but I was not the only one to like it, the concert got rave reviews in the local paper; the critic (male) pretty much confessed that he came away wanting to run up the aisle and marry someone right away!

I think this version with Birgit Nilsson of Sibelius´ "Flickan kom från sin älsklings möte" (= the girl came from a meeting with her darling) is a better treat for you, and gives you a feel for what we experienced.

(Put up by operazaile.)