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Wilhelm Stenhamm;u's Serenqde for orchesira is considered by many to be the greatesl Swedish orchestral work. We do nor know exaclly u'hen the composer stilied to plan it, but he probably did so in 1 9O6-7 when visiting Italy. The Serenade was to be the last of his major orchesual works. In the 189Os Stenhammar achieved his first great successes bolh as pianist and as composer. When he visited Germany he was stimulated by the intense musical activity, and. inspired by Wagner. he composed his two music dramas Gildet pd Solhoug (1893) and Tirfing (1898). The latter, however, was a great disappointment for him. He ceased to compose and accepted instead more conducting commissions, and was also active as a chamber musician on tour with the famous Aulin Qudtet. Nevertheless Stenhammil had, by the eilly years of the 2oth century, completed a Symphony (in F major), a broadly-conceived u'ork of great beauty in the Germanic tradition. Tortured by self-doubt he withdrew the piece for revision - which, a ferv minor points aside, never happened. (In recent yeus this piece has been played 10 greal acclaim in its existing form by Neemc Jiirvi md it is available on BIS-LP/CD219,) Like so many other Scmdinavians of this period, Stenhammiu yeilned for the south md f or this reason travelled to Italy in 1906. Here he had the chmce to complete his Piano Concerto No.2 and also to write, among other things. the rhapsody Midwinter as well as to sketch ideas for orchestral works. For financial resons he accepted the posl of conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and returned to Sweden in 'fhe Aulumn 1907. next yed he started work on the Serenade but it was not ready until 1913 and was first played in edly 191.1 at the Stockholm Opera, conducted by the composer himrlf. At that time the Second Symphony (in G minor) u'as taking shape well and it wm firsi played in 1915 (available with Neeme Jdrvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra on BIS-LP/CD251). The first performance of the Serenade rvas not a success and after the appearance of the G minar Symphony Stenhammar returncd to it. Originally there u'ere six movem- ents, of which the firsl and the last were in E major. "E major is always difficult for an orchestra," Stenhammar is zupposed to have said, and he wx refeuing to Swedish orchestral standards at the time. The Serenade's chamber-music struclure with the minute assembly of all the details makes it difficult to play, and to interpret! The original second movemenl. called Reuerenza, was discarded (but the score is preserved in the Stenhamma archives of Stockholm Music Academy). The original versions of the outer movements have disappeared although we know that they were transposed from l) major to F major and that the tempo indication of the scherzo u'as changed. On 3rd March I I20 the nerv f ive-movement version was played by the Goth- enburg Symphony Orcheslra under the direction of its principal conductot - in other words the composer himself. The Serenade is spontaneous and playful, but not frivolously crafted, fot few scores arc as thoroughly worked through. Southern tcmperament is combined with Nordic dreaminess. The timbre s melt and mcrge inlo a shifling speclrum. Motives are thr()s'n about playfully betrveen the pilts, Here rvc are far from thc stern symphonic counten- ance of the G minor Symphony. In a letter from Italy, Stenhammar describcs one of his future works as "like a spring dithyramb from Florence". This can only refer lo thc Serenade. Whilc composing the piec(', Stcnhammar was amassing rvidc expetiencc as conductor o{ thc Gothenburg Symphony Orchcslra by means of his pcrformances of }age modern orchestral u'orks try Berlioz (u'hom he considered to be a gcnius), Debussy, Wagner, Bruckner, Brahms. Reger. Richard Strauss, Dohnmyi - and also his friends Sibelius and Niclsen. Despitc these influences the Scrcnade remains an e$entially national lvork. fhe filst movcment. in free sonata form. is called ()vertura md has the unusual tempo marking allegrissinto. Nleltingly and impressionistically the shimmering string passages murmur u'ith a supple liveliness. Aftcr thc introduction, new material is presented in turn by thc horns. the rvoodrvind and a solo violin, eme'rging from a background of repose. A second, hymn-Iike theme follorvs, a sorl of eighl-parl choral section. Since a serenade (including this one, according to Stenlammar) can be played s'ith a vaiable number of movemenls, I have chosen to follow Necme Jdrvi's advice and insert lITe Reuerenzo movernent in its original place. We do not knou'rvhy Stcnhamma deicted it. It may have been for reasons of lenglh. Some writers think that SLcnhamm€tr found i1 too similar to the following Cdnzonetta because of its subdued and reserved chatacter, and therefore dispensd wirh i1. Others fcel thar Reuerenza s'ould be better played separalely from the'Serenade. I do not agrcc thal ir is misplaced. Stenhammar composed the music to occupr- this place, and the chuacter of a baroque minuet is, in rny opinion, quite appropriate. One also forms a betler picture of the composer in lhc hamonious time before the five or six years of revision. u'hen the austcrity of the Second Symphony may havc influenced him - and he had also experienced the troublcd years of the !'irst World War. Next comes a block of three movemenls without a brcak. The first, Canzonetta, is a stylized rvaltz in rvhich u'e only feel the rvaltz rhythm bccause of the genlly flowing melody. (I personally think this is one of the most beautiful of Stenhammar's idcas.) The atmospherc is bewitching and noclurnal but full of the heat of a summcr night. "lhe Scherzo is full of brutally changing dynamics and brusque attacks. The piece is rather ghostly with its characteristic hunting fanfarcs in thc trio, suggcsting a distant festival. These fanfues return in the reprise's orgiastic frenzy and porverful climax. Stenharnma leads us discretely into the u'orld of dreams in Notturno, quiet, elegiac, cantabile. The subtle numces follow each olher in a relined yet simple fashion. All this is done very resourcefully and shorvs Stenhmmar's greatness, The German-orientated composer is here far removed from accusations of being an cpigone of Brahms, Stlauss or Wagner. "ll1e Finale is the most extended of the movements. a thoroughly worked-out symph- onic movement u'hich could stand well alone. The finale calls to mind the first movem- ent by means of its character and its motifs. and thus confets an impression of unity. It has somelhing of the spiril of a "Concerto for Orchestra" u'hilst avoiding pomposity. Profound tenderncss is Stenhammar's distinguishing feature cven here. And finally the fresh coda rvith no bombastic pretentions whatsocver - despite cverything, we have not beeo listening to a symphorry but to a serenade, Neeme Jiirvi is Principal Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Musical Director of the Scottish National Orchestra. He rvas born in Tallinn, Estonia. in 1937 and sludied at the TaUinn Music School and later at the Leningrad State Conservatory rvith Rabinovich and Mravinsky. He made his conducting debut at the age of 18 in a concert performmce of Strauss's "Eine Nacht in Venedig" and in 1963 became director of the Estonian Radio and Television Orchestra and of the Tallinn Opera. He won first prize at the international conducting competition in Rome in 1971, which led to invita- tions to conduct major orchestras throughout the world. In 1980 Neeme Jiirvi emigrated to the U.S.A. and cver since ihen he has worked extensively both with the leading orchestras in the Western world and in prominent opera houses. Dudng the 1978-9 season he made his Metropolitm Opera debut with "Eugene Onegin". With the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra he has been involved with tours to Germany and, in March 1987, to the U.S.A. and Far East, He is engaged in recording projects of the compleie orchcstral music of Sibelius. Stenhammil and Tubin for the BIS label, Neeme Jiirvi also appears on 17 other BIS records. The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, one of the oldest in Scandinavia, was founded in 19O5. Within a short period the composer, pianist and conductor Wilhelm Stenhamma won the orchesua a leading position in Scandinavim musical life. Jem Sibetjus and Cal Nielsen made frequent guest appedances conducting their own works, Tor Mmn and Issav Dobrowen continued the tradition. The principal conductors in recent yeas have been Sergiu Comisiona, Sixten Ehrling and Charles Dutoit. Other famous conductors who have made guest appearances with the orchestra include Bruno Walt,er, Wilhelm Furtwdngler, Erich Kleiber, Sir John Barbirolti, Sir Malcolm Sargent. Sir Colin Davis, Sir Georg Solti, Herbert von Karajan and Zubin Mehta. Since autumn 1982 the chief conductor has been the highy sought-after Esroniil Neeme Jdrvi. The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra appeils on 21 other BIS records. 'I'his recording LL'asnlade in the Gothenburg Concert IIall, one of the uorld's finest con- cert uenues. T'he speciol qualities of the hall hque been confirmed in a scientific strtdl' "Akustik ueltberiihmter Musihriiume" (in 1'echnih am Bau 8/79). The technical data were further Eubstantiated by interL)ieus with 23 internationall"- famous conducfors, in, cluding I'urtucingler, Scherchen, B6hnt, Solti and L'on Kqrajqtl. In Americq, the concert hqrys of lluenos Aires and lloston were chosen; in Eurcpe those of Vienna, Amsterdam and Gothenburg. wilhelm stenhamrnds serenud fiir orkester rdknas av manga som det frdmsta svenska orkestcrverket. \Ian vet inte med sdkerhet nzir tonseitaren biinade planera komposi- tionen men troligtvis skedde det i Italien dZiI han vistadcs 1906-0T Serenaden kom att bli hans sista stora orkesterverk.

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