COMPOSERS: Stenhammar
LABELS: Chandos
WORKS: Piano Concerto No. 1
PERFORMER: Mats Widlund (piano)Royal Stockholm Symphony Orchestra/Gennady Rozhdestvensky
CATALOGUE NO: CHAN 9074 DDD
Wilhelm Stenhammar is hardly a household name now, but in his day he enjoyed considerable success not only in his native Sweden but also in Germany.
The manuscript of the concerto was destroyed during the Second World War, and a reconstruction was used for many years. This new recording, however, is based on a manuscript copy which has been rediscovered in America.
It's hardly a major discovery, but it is an attractive enough piece. Mats Widlund is a persuasive soloist, and the work has been well recorded. As a bonus, Chandos has appended the impetuous opening bars of Stenhammar's projected Third Symphony. Misha Donat