Swedish composer Franz Berwald is one of the most remarkable figures in early romanticism, a composer whose work significantly foreshadowed later developments in music; he paid a high price for his innovations through the enmity and ignorance of his colleagues, and only found recognition at the very end of a long and inauspicious career as a musician. Although Berwald hasn't quite made it to the tier where the
Mendelssohns -- some of whom opposed him in his lifetime -- reside, Berwald is an excellent composer to know and his work bears significant consequence for European romanticism as a whole. This three-disc EMI set, Berwald: Overtures, Concertos & Symphonies, covers a large swath of Berwald's major orchestral works: his four numbered symphonies and piano and violin concertos, not to mention the majority of his overtures and tone poems. These recordings were made all at one time by the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Swedish conductor
Ulf Björlin in 1976; comprehension was the aim, and at the time these late analog recordings were considered state-of-the-art in Berwald. They have been, at least in part, superseded by the superlative Berwald symphony set on Hyperion with
Roy Goodman leading the Swedish Radio Symphony, though even that magnificent -- and significantly costlier -- set doesn't have the wealth of Berwald material found here.
The performances in the EMI set are consistent and
Björlin keeps things moving, although one could argue that his interpretation rather exaggerates the aspect of Berwald's music that draws from Italian opera and his use of snappy, clipped rhythms. It is odd that a Nordic conductor would find it desirable to downplay the chilly, vast landscapes that sometimes stretch outward in Berwald. Also,
Björlin's readings of Berwald are simply not as volcanic and fiery as earlier ones by
Igor Markevitch and
Sixten Ehrling. However,
Björlin's did have the advantage of better sound at the time of release, though even that hasn't held up as well as perhaps it should; the recordings are distant (though recorded in Abbey Road!) bright, and fully present only in loud passages.
All that being said, one simply cannot beat this deal: all of this music for the asking price. Berwald is a composer who should be known, and isn't, and there does seem to be something of a fear factor involved when it comes to his name. Perhaps it's the idea that Berwald's music might be boring, didactic, or inescapable from its period, all qualities that do not apply to Berwald's captivating, highly enthralling, entertaining, and, above all, deeply human music. If one wants to make contact with a large amount of Berwald at one time, for little expense, this is the way to go.
Björlin's EMI Berwald recordings have been issued on CD several times; two of these discs were issued in EMI's Doublefforte series, and all three were included in EMI's short-lived Matrix line at one time. Accept no substitutes; this modest set contains the whole
Björlin/Berwald recording project, and while you don't get much in the way of notes, you get the music, and that's what counts.