kennst du das land?

Do you know the land where the lemon trees bloom,

golden oranges shine between the dark leaves,

a gentle breeze blows from the azure sky,

myrtle remains motionless and laurel rises highly

You know you, perhaps?

 

The famous verses with which Goethe's Mignon describes her homeland in Wilhelm Meister, the alter ego of the great German poet, perfectly adapt to the wonder felt by many composers, poets and artists just arrived from the countries of northern Europe in front the marine landscape of our Riviera. Among them we certainly remember Jean Sibelius, who in 1901 lived for some time with his wife Aino and daughters Eva and Ruth in Rapallo, where he wrote part of the Second Symphony, one of his most performed and loved compositions. Actually, the picturesque landscape of Liguria was able to conquer other artists in search of light, heat and intense aromas. One of the less known is Hugo Alfvén (1872 - 1960), Swedish composer who in 1905 settled in Sori and was conquered not only by the beauty of the landscape, but also from that of Mary Krøyer, daughter of the famous Danish painter Peter Severin, who soon would become his wife.

Unfortunately today it is not easy to listen to Alfven's compositions. Catalogs have a very limited selection of recordings, a fact that does not do anything for justice to the quality of his production. Despite this, after 55 years since his death, in Sweden Alfven is still considered an emblematic composer along with Wilhelm Stenhammar, a fact that is explained on the one hand by the great efforts expended in favor of major musical Swedish institutions and on the other by a vibrant and colored orchestral writing, in which you may notice more than one element borrowed by Richard Strauss' style. In particular, Alfvén's five symphonies and symphonic poems are pervaded by intensely elegiac atmospheres, which often take on tense and dramatic tones. On a different scheme the Third Symphony, which can be the ideal key to get closer to Alfven's style. Composed in Sori, a sea Village in the east Ligurian Coast - probably one of the happiest periods of the composer's life - this symphony is indeed imbued with a joy and a brightness that express the mood of a man happy and in love. About the Third, Alfvén wrote:

 

«This symphony has no programmatic content and not describes facts or feelings. It is simply an expression of joie de vivre, an evocation of the warmth of the sun that fills my whole being.»

 

These feelings find expression in the initial movement Allegro con brio brilliant and engaging, but still polite and without excesses, in which you can recognize the passion of a man perhaps relishing for the first time the full happiness, and in the relaxed and serene lyricism of the following Andante, which seems to speak of romantic visions of the starry alongside beloved Maria. In particular, the exposure of the first theme is a caress on the heart expanding to the whole soul and evoking dreamy atmospheres that seem suspended outside of time and space.The Presto starts with a certain circumspection to surrender then to a vigorous surge of vitality, which forms a pleasant contrast to the thoughtful tone of the second theme, while the finale Allegro con brio closes the symphony with a jaunty gait - where also come out soft and delicate splinters - that was very appreciated by the public in Gothenburg on December 3, 1906, in the occasion of the first performance directed by Alfvén himself.

The third Symphony is currently available in two commercial editions, both quite dated, made by Neeme Järvi with the Royal Stockholm Symphony Orchestra for the Swedish label Bis and Niklas Willen with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the Naxos label. It's hard to find the historical recording (1964): the Swedish Society with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Nils Grevillius.