Berliner Sibelius Orchestra, conductor Andreas Kahler (1986). Beginning in bottomless gloom, this symphony gradually evolves into a struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed, or the "underdog" as Pettersson himself put it. This struggle becomes quite desperate, and at the climax I hear a plea for mercy against ruthless tyranny. After a brief glimpse of an island of paradise, we once again enter a wasteland of destitution and hopelessness - that worst of human conditions. I am personally aware of my own losses and the mistakes I have made in my lifetime, and this symphony expresses my sense of regret. Pettersson never left any program notes for his symphonies, except No 12, but he described his own personal world view in no uncertain terms, and it is from his words spoken that I compiled the few images that accompany this music. We do know that while composing this symphony, Pettersson was struggling increasingly from the rheumatoid arthritis which was to so cripple him that this was the last work he could finish in his own hand.
The stark difference between those who have abundance and those who carry the burden of extreme lack, is one of the central themes of Pettersson's world view, which he experienced so painfully during his own childhood in a Stockhholm slum. I find it tragic that from a global perspective, this situation has not changed during the past 50 years, and I wonder why it is so. The stark reality of it is readily seen from a brief perusal of Google Images.
The subject of cruelty between human beings is the theme of Pettersson's 12th Symphony, "The Dead at the Marketplace", where the orchestra is joined by a chorus singing a cycle of poems by Pablo Neruda. But the power of love, compassion and tenderness is by no means absent from all of Pettersson's works, as can be heard in his Symphonies 6 and 7, 10, 11, 14, and his beautiful violin concerto.
This is probably the very first recording of the 5th to be published, and initially only in Sweden on the Bluebell label (BEL LP 203). This upload replaces my version of March 2014 because I wished to change the images. The music is the same.
29 сен 2024
