Stenhammar - Excelsior, Op 13, Symphony No 2 - Jarvi - Gothenberg SO - 1983

Wilhelm Stenhammar, as can be heard in the exuberant tone poem Excelsior!, was a glowing admirer to Richard Wagner and Anton Bruckner. Six years younger than Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius, he was also inspired to find his Nordic voice; he particularly admired Sibelius's Second Symphony, a timely influence as Stenhammar's work in the form followed quickly on the debut of Sibelius'.



The present recording was a significant milestone in broadening Stenhammar's appeal in the west, arriving more than eighty years after the premiere of Excelsior!. It's a work so immediately appealing, it's hard to understand why it isn't in the broader repertoire. And there is a nice tie in: Stenhammar, from 1906 to 1922, was artistic director and chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony, heard here under Neeme Jarvi in a gorgeous live recording when the conductor was just beginning to make his mark on audiences.

The great Artur Nikisch, in 1897, led the premiere of Exclesior! with the Berlin PO.

Robert Layton, writing in Gramophone in 1984, said: "The acoustic of the Gothenburg Concert Hall is justly celebrated and enables the orchestra to be heard at its very best. They play with tremendous enthusiasm in Excelsior! and the CD produces sound of striking realism. I recently heard them on their home ground and can report that this is a completely truthful and well-balanced recording that conveys to the listener exactly what it is like to be there.
Excelsior! improves enormously on acquaintance and I am surprised that it hasn't become a repertoire work even if it has a lot of Strauss and Wagner in it.The aural image is so 'present' and its range and body so impressive that it is an even more desirable issue than before."