Pastoral Suite

The Pastoral Suite (in Swedish: Pastoralsvit), Op. 19, is a three-movement suite for orchestra written in 1938 by Swedish composer Lars-Erik Larsson. The suite remains not only one of Larsson's most celebrated compositions,[2] but also one of the most frequently performed pieces of Swedish art music. In particular, the Romance (No. 2) is often performed and recorded as a stand-alone concert piece.[3]

Pastoral Suite
by Lars-Erik Larsson
The composer
Native namePastoralsvit
Opus19
Composed1938 (1938)
PublisherGehrmans Musikförlag (1942)
DurationApprox. 12 minutes[1]
Movements3
Premiere
Date11 October 1938 (1938-10-11)
LocationStockholm, Sweden
ConductorLars-Erik Larsson
PerformersRadio Entertainment Orchestra

Background

Beginning in 1937, the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation—the country's national, publicly-funded radio—employed Larsson as a composer-in-residence, music producer, and conductor;[4] his main task was to write music to accompany various radio programs.[5] One of Larsson's colleagues was the Swedish poet Hjalmar Gullberg, who had joined Swedish Radio the year before and headed its drama division.[3] Together, the two men developed a genre of popular entertainment they called the "lyrical suite",[lower-alpha 1] which alternated recited poetry with musical interludes.[6][3][7] Larsson's first commission of this type was to compose four orchestral vignettes to accompany the 1938 radio recitation of a Swedish-language translation Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale; he subsequently published these as A Winter's Tale (En vintersaga; Op. 18).

Originally, the Pastoral Suite was part of a "lyrical suite" called The Hours of the Day; this featured poems by, among others, Verner von Heidenstam (bottom) and Oscar Levertin (top).

After the success of A Winter's Tale, Larsson began composing a second lyrical suite for Swedish Radio: The Hours of the Day (Dagens stunder).[lower-alpha 2] He contributed six orchestral movements to accompany six poems by various Swedish authors:[9][10]

  • No. 1: Adagio
    Recitation: A Day (En dag) by Verner von Heidenstam
  • No. 1 (cont.): Allegro
    Recitation: The Earth Sings (Jorden sjunger) by Erik Blomberg
  • No. 2: Andantino con moto
    Recitation: Siesta by Oscar Levertin
  • No. 3: Adagio
    Recitation: The Two Tones (De två tonerna) by Kerstin Hed
  • No. 4: Vivice
    Recitation: An Afternoon (En eftermiddag) by Erik Lindorm
  • No. 5: Andantino
    Recitation: Man's Home (Människans hem) by Erik Blomberg
  • No. 6: Andante tranquillo

The Hours of the Day—and, by extension, what would later become the Pastoral Suite—premiered over Swedish Radio on 11 October 1938, with Larsson conducting the Radio Entertainment Orchestra (Radiotjänsts Underhållningsorkester) in Stockholm;[10] the Swedish actor Gunnar Sjöberg read the first, second, third, and fifth poems, while the Swedish actress Gunn Wållgren read the third and fourth poems.[9] Afterwards, Larsson excerpted Nos. 1, 3, and 4 as the Pastoral Suite,[11] while Nos. 2, 5, and 6 faded into obscurity.[lower-alpha 3]

Structure

The Pastoral Suite, which lasts about 12 to 13 minutes, is in three movements. They are as follows:[1]

  1. Overture (Uvertyr): Adagio—Allegro
  2. Romance (Romans): Adagio
  3. Scherzo: Vivice

As a whole, the piece is in the neoclassical style that was "fashionable" in Swedish between the two world wars.[3] In the Scherzo, Larsson's writing recalls the concerto grosso form.[2]

Instrumentation

The Pastoral Suite is scored the following instruments:[1]

The two outer movements are for full orchestras, whereas the central Romance is for strings.[2] Gehrmans Musikförlag published the suite in 1942.[1]

Recordings

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of the Pastoral Suite:

No. Conductor Orchestra Rec.[lower-alpha 4] Time Recording venue Label Ref.
1 Stig Westerberg (1) Stockholm Radio Orchestra 1952 ? ? Decca
[lower-alpha 5]
2 Stig Westerberg (2) Stockholm Symphony Orchestra 1960 12:21 Stockholm Concert Hall Swedish Society Discofil
[lower-alpha 6]
3 Ulf Björlin Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra 1968 13:20 Eklidens skola, Nacka HMV /EMI Classics
[lower-alpha 7]
4 Göran Nilson Örebro Symphony Orchestra 1979 14:00 Örebro Concert Hall Bluebell of Sweden
[lower-alpha 8]
5 Jan-Olav Wedin Stockholm Sinfonietta 1980 12:12 Cirkus BIS
[lower-alpha 9]
6 Mario Bernardi CBC Vancouver Orchestra 1992 13:17 Orpheum CBC Records
[lower-alpha 10]
7 James DePreist Malmö Symphony Orchestra 1992 13:12[lower-alpha 3] Malmö Concert Hall BIS
[lower-alpha 11]
8 Esa-Pekka Salonen Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra 1993 13:24 Berwald Hall Sony Classical
[lower-alpha 12]
9 Anton Nanut RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra ? 14:16 ? Classical Gallery
[lower-alpha 13]
10 Okko Kamu Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra 1994 12:28 Helsingborg Concert Hall Naxos
[lower-alpha 14]
11 Dorrit Matson New York Scandia Symphony 2001 13:18 Trinity Church Centaur
[lower-alpha 15]
12 Christopher Warren-Green Jönköping Sinfonietta 2002 13:30 Jönköping Concert Hall Intim Musik
[lower-alpha 16]
13 Mats Rondin Norrköping Symphony Orchestra 2003 13:21[lower-alpha 3] De Geerhallen Naxos
[lower-alpha 17]
14 Ola Rudner Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen 2013 13:41 Probensaal Bella Musica
[lower-alpha 18]

Notes, references, and sources

Notes
  1. The original Swedish is "lyrisk svit".
  2. Dagens stunder is sometimes translated to English as Moments of the Day[8] or Times of Day.[7]
  3. In 1992, James DePreist and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording of the complete six-movement The Hours of the Day (Dagens stunder), which lasts 22:29.[12] In 2003, Mats Rondin and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra also recorded the complete The Hours of the Day (21:34).[8]
  4. Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
  5. S. Westerberg–Decca (LX 3086) 1953
  6. S. Westerberg–Swedish Society (SCD 1051) 1997
  7. U. Björlin–HMV EMI (E 063–34405)
  8. G. Nilson–Bluebell (ABCD 003) 1987
  9. J. Wedin–BIS (CD–165) 1988
  10. M. Bernardi–CBC (SMCD5157) 1996
  11. J. DePreist–BIS (CD–570) 1988
  12. E. Salonen–Sony Classical (SK 64140) 1993
  13. A. Nanut—Classical Gallery (CLG 7105) 1993
  14. O. Kamu–Naxos (8.553115) 1995
  15. D. Matson–Centaur (CRC2607) 2002
  16. C. Warren-Green–Intim Musik (IMCD 082) 2003
  17. M. Rondin–Naxos (8.557426) 2003
  18. O. Rudner–Bella Musica (BM319288) 2013

References
  1. Gehrmans Musikförlag (b).
  2. Lundin 2002, p. 3.
  3. Skans 1989, p. 2.
  4. Schlüren 2015, p. 15.
  5. Nyström 1993, p. 6.
  6. Schlüren 2015, p. 16.
  7. Lundin 2002, p. 2.
  8. Jacobsson 2003, p. 6.
  9. Caprice 2019.
  10. Gehrmans Musikförlag (a).
  11. Lundin 2002, pp. 2–3, 6.
  12. Eriksson 1992, pp. 3–4.

Sources
  • "Dagens stunder: Lyrisk Svit" [Moments of the Day: Lyrical Suite]. gehrmans.se. Gehrmans Musikförlag. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  • "Pastoralsvit" [Pastoral Suite]. gehrmans.se. Gehrmans Musikförlag. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  • Lars-Erik Larsson (2019). Under tonsättarens taktpinne: svenska tonsattare dirigerar egna verk [Under the composer's baton: Swedish composers conduct their own works] (CD booklet). Caprice. OCLC 1104066491. CAP21920.
  • Eriksson, Tore (1992). Malmö Symphony Orchestra: Portrait (CD booklet). James DePreist & Malmö Symphony Orchestra. BIS. pp. 4–5. OCLC 29640891. CD–570.
  • Jacobsson, Stig (2003). Nordic Classical Favourites (CD booklet). Translated by Thomas, D. Russell. Mats Rondin & Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. Naxos. pp. 4–7. OCLC 871876769. 8.557426.
  • Lundin, Peter (2002). Lars-Erik Larsson: God in Disguise / Little Serenade, Op. 12 / Winter's Tale, Op. 18 / Pastoral Suite, Op. 19 (CD booklet). Translated by Schenck, Linda. Christopher Warren-Green & Jönköping Sinfonietta. Intim musik. pp. 2–3. OCLC 53054794. IMCD 082.
  • Nyström, Martin (1993). Lars-Erik Larsson: Förklädd Gud (God in Disguise) / Pastoral Suite / Violin Concerto (CD booklet). Esa-Pekka Salonen & Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Sony Classical. pp. 6–7. OCLC 34697048. SK 64140.
  • Schlüren, Christoph (2015). Lars-Erik Larsson: Symphony No. 2 / Variations, Op. 50 / Barococo Suite, Op. 64 (CD booklet). Translated by Robinson, J. Bradford. Andrew Manze & Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. cpo. pp. 14–20. OCLC 965545444. 777 672–2.
  • Skans, Per (1989). Lars-Erik Larsson: Förklädd Gud (God in Disguise), Op. 24 / Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 34 (CD booklet). Sten Frykberg & Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. BIS. pp. 2–4. OCLC 21568279. CD–96.
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