Allan Pettersson: Concerto for Violin and String Quartet, String Trio & Works for Violin and Piano – Ulf Wallin

 

 Allan Pettersson: Concerto for Violin and String Quartet, String Trio & Works for Violin and Piano

Ulf Wallin

Pettersson:

Concerto for Violin and String Quartet

Two Elegies 

Andante espressivo

Romanza

Lamento

Four Improvisations

Despite being treated very kindly on disc in the 21st Century, Allan Pettersson's music is still seldom heard in concert, despite possessing on of the most personal compositional voices of the 20th Century. Best known for his 17 symphonies, this album features works written before and of the symphonies, and studied in Paris with the likes of Leibowitz, Honegger, Messiaen and Milhaud.

The most substantial work, the Concerto for Violin and String Quartet, already displays Pettersson's post-Mahlerian compositional style, with its 30+ minutes showcasing an array of creative devices, forming a violin concerto that is surely one of the most striking and tempestuous of the first half of the 20th Century. The first movement, the shortest of the three showcases the influence of Berg, and indeed Ulf Wallin certainly places an emphasis on the more "romantic" aspects of Pettersson's writing. Interestingly, the  string quartet rarely strays from the accompanying role, a welcome breath of fresh air in a work so motivically dense, and somewhat recalling the role of the strings in Haydn's wonderful Piano Trios.

The slow second movement contrasts the first movement brilliantly, with Straussian counterpoint and a striking sense of scope. However, what sets this performance apart from previous recordings is its careful attention to rhythm, never feeling overly mechanical but allowing the music to possess a greater sense of drive and direction. Furthermore, the incorporation of extended techniques (nothing too crazy, but some striking use of glissando, sul ponticello and left-hand pizzicato) never feel gimmicky or out of place. The concluding chorale, which will return to greater prominence in the final movement, again recalls Berg, but never feels derivative of that work.

The third movement (the longest of the three at 18 minutes) immediately follows the second, with some harmonies recalling Hindemith. Despite being at first formally perplexing (as are much of Peterson's symphonies), Wallin and co masterfully hold the tension through the Allegro and Cadenza sections, which the returning chorale building to a truly beautiful climax, surely something too lush and sentimental for any of his modernist contemporaries. The final Allegro furioso is taken slower that usual, though I am sold on this decision, for it allows the players to place a greater emphasis on articulation, and ultimately coming across more satisfying than previous, faster recordings. This builds to the extremely dissonant final chorale statement, a moment which is genuinely terrifying, with Wallin bringing out the eerie nihilism the music demands.

Whilst the remaining works are on a much smaller scale, they are no less interesting, showing another side to a composer with perhaps too many stereotypes surrounding his music. The Two Elegies, written when the composer was 17, are charming little miniatures which allude to harmonies as early as Schubert. Even better is the Andante espressivo and the Romanza, which remind one of the chromatic chamber music of Reger, though not sounding as overtly academic. While the works are not necessarily groundbreaking, they are exceptionally fine pieces of romantic violin music, and written very idiomatically for its respective instruments. The Lamento, Pettersson's only work for solo piano, is particularly evocative and minimal, somehow reminiscing on Chopin yet looking forward to Pärt. Finally, the Four Improvisitions for String Trio come across as pure Bartók. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, although the complex rhythms and driven ostinatos are a far cry from the deeply expressive music Pettersson is most notable for.

Being recorded by BIS, the sonics are fantastic, with moments of reflection feeling almost uncomfortably intimate, whilst you can feel the rosin flying of Wallin's bow at the most turbulent moments. He has managed to collect a fine group of players, to wonderfully display these early Pettersson works, which at their worst are an interesting curiosity, and at their best showcase one of the most creative, yet still neglected musical minds of the 20th Century.