This second installment in Naxos’ ongoing series of Alfvén symphonies is more successful than Volume One. It’s true that conductor Niklas Willén adds a couple of minutes to Neeme Järvi’s timings of both the Dalecarlian Rhapsody and the Legend of the Skerries, but the music is some of Alfvén’s most colorful and appealing and can certainly take a little extra indulgence. If you haven’t heard these charming, folk-music-inspired gems of late Romantic music, then here’s an excellent place to start. The Symphony also sounds consistently fresh and lively, though it’s hard to shake the impression that the composer was happier writing programmatic works in free form than in indulging the more intellectual rigors of symphonic development. In Willén’s sympathetic hands, however, none of its four movements outstays its welcome. In any event, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra plays with confidence and evident enjoyment, and the recorded sound is very good, as are almost all Naxos’ recordings from this source. A good job.
