Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (1867-1942) was one of the first generation of Swedish composers who brought their country’s musical culture into the 20th century. Like his colleagues Alfvén, Rängstrom, and Atterberg, he began writing in the late-Romantic, quasi-Wagnerian style that in his youth appeared to be the height of modernity, and bitterly opposed virtually all later musical trends. He was best-known as a miniaturist–a composer of songs and short piano pieces, but he did write in larger forms with varying degrees of success. Two problems that all of these composers shared, at least regarding their big orchestral productions, are a primitive sense of form combined with a genuine disdain for counterpoint. In other words, their music consists entirely of self-contained tunes married to highly colorful accompaniments. The success or failure of the piece depends entirely on the quality of the tunes, the variety of the accompaniments, and on the composer’s ability to create sufficient rhythmic variety to sustain a long symphonic movement. Peterson-Berger’s Second Symphony, subtitled “The Journey on Southerly Winds”, does better than most, having all of the positive qualities of his style and few dead spots. Much of the credit belongs to Michail Jurowski; this music needs passionate advocacy from a conductor not afraid to whip up a climax, and that’s just what he provides. As the shorter works all show the composer at his amiable best, this is a very successful disc that lovers of late Romantic music are certain to enjoy.
