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Still Sweden's only "big name" composer, Franz Berwald's (1796-1868) was an unusual if frustrating career that included spells managing an orthopaedic institute and a glassworks! Composing was an intermittent activity, but as the four mature symphonies--written during 1841-46--show, his was an individual voice. Perhaps intentionally, they form complementary pairs: the drama and pathos of
Sinfonie sérieuse, the wit and charm of
Sinfonie capriceuse; the striking originality of
Sinfonie singulière, the relaxed poise of the Symphony in E flat (Berwald initially called this
Sinfonie nave, but perhaps thought this was playing into the critics' hands?). They're full of the kind of invention Haydn would have appreciated, and Roy Goodman's lithe but dynamic performances reinforce the music's Classical credentials. He also includes the first, and only surviving movement of a symphony from 1820--the young Berwald working on an unusually expansive scale, with all the freshness and invention that made his contemporaries despair, but which will delight you today. --
Richard Whitehouse