Tor Mann Conducts Hilding Rosenberg

Hilding Rosenberg (1892-1985) has been called Sweden's first modernist composer, but there are strong links to tradition in his Symphony No. 3, presented here in a 1953 performance led by his contemporary Tor Mann (1894-1974).

When this recording came out, critics were divided. Harold Schonberg called it "pretentious academism." But Alfred Frankenstein praised "the dignity and refinement of the music, its strong lyric character, and its general sense of poise and technical accomplishment."

Far from being "academic" (a pejorative term in secular criticism), the symphony is deeply felt and absorbing to this listener, betraying the influences of Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen (perhaps via Rosenberg's teacher Wilhelm Stenhammar) and Paul Hindemith.

Hilding Rosenberg

The Third Symphony bears the title, "The Four Ages of Man." There is no stated program to the work, although a brief exegesis is provided in the cover notes. For its first performance, the composer interspersed spoken excerpts from Romain Rolland's novel Jean Christophe, although those passages did not appeared in the score's initial published version in 1939. Rosenberg revised the score in 1943, then produced a replacement third movement in 1949. This final version is the one heard here.

The composer himself recorded the 1943 edition of the score in 1948, adding the recitations for a Swedish Society release decades later. The final version also has been recorded by the Stockholm Philharmonic twice, in performances conducted by Herbert Blomstedt and Andrew Davis. That ensemble also is heard here under its previous name of the Stockholm Concert Society Orchestra.

Tor Mann

The conductor of this recording, Tor Mann, was the director of the Stockholm orchestra from 1939-59 in its guise as the Swedish Radio Symphony.

The download includes the brief reviews referenced above along with the usual scans and photos.

I am indebted to my friend Maris Kristapsons for his generous gift of this LP. He also sent me a disc of the music of Gösta Nystroem, which will appear here at a later date.