Marian Migdal, Arve Tellefsen, Ulf Björlin - Berwald: Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, Orchestral works (2007)

Berwald's is one of those names that lie on the fringes of our musical universe rather than in the centre: apart from the four symphonies, little of his music is much heard. I can't remember seeing either of the concertos in a public concert and his best-known orchestral piece, the Overture to Estrella de Soria, not included here, has also fallen from view in recent years. He is an unfailingly intelligent and original figure and his neglect is our loss.

The lightly scored Violin Concerto is an early piece, composed in 1820, and was championed in the early years of the century by no less an artist than Henri Marteau. It is slight but charming, particularly when it is played as beautifully and elegantly as it is here by Arve Tellefsen. Its spirit is not far removed from Spohr or Weber. The Piano Concerto dates from the other end of his career and was written in 1855 for his pupil and protegee Hilda Thegestrom. It is a curious piece in that the soloist plays without any relief or pause, and like the Sinfonie singuliere, it had to wait until the present century for its first performance. Some of the writing (the second group in particular) is Chopinesque but there is much that is quite individual. Marian Migdal's playing has much greater flair and above all more poetic imagination than the only other account I know on record from Greta Eriksson and the Swedish Radio Orchestra under Stig Westerberg (Caprice—nla).

Berwald commentator Nils Castegren thought that The Queen of Golconda Overture (1864) was probably derived in part from (or was even identical with) the Humoristisches Capriccio (1841) whose autograph had disappeared by the time of Berwald's death. Whether or not this is so, it is certainly a captivating overture and in a just world ought to be a repertory piece. The Festival of the Bayaderes and Serious and joyful fancies are both vintage pieces dating from the same period as the symphonies. Berwald thought sufficiently well of The Festival of the Bayaderes to re-use part of it in one of the piano quintets.

Ulf Bjorlin, who, sadly, died in Palm Springs a few months ago, gets good results from the RPO (I think I was a little hard on the set when it first appeared) and gives good support to both soloists. He pulls back excessively, I think, at the second group of the Bayaderes (bar 48, track 5, 1'46''), though I appreciate that there is an andante marking at this point! However, generally speaking, these are very good and well-recorded performances whose return to circulation should be warmly welcomed. -- Robert Layton