On the one hand, Karl-Birger Blomdahl is an off-the-wall choice as the first composer to be the subject of a CC Mixtape, IF there was a wall. There are many composers whose works are heard regularly on the OM radio show – Shostakovich, Bartok, Saariaho, Ligeti, Schnittke… But on the other hand, Blomdahl is a perfect choice. Due in part to his early death (at age 51) in 1968, Blomdahl’s body of work is not particularly imposing – three symphonies, three concerti, a handful of ballets and a handful of chamber works – which allows a 2-hour show to present a solid overview. Also, Blomdahl is the sort of genius (hardly known in the U.S. during his lifetime, all but forgotten now) that CC and the OM radio show are about.
Schooled as biochemist, Blomdahl was the main man of Swedish post-WWII music, dabbling in electronics and unconventional forms. He was, by all accounts, a full-on pessimist. His best-known work is a 1959 opera, Ariana, about a voyage to Mars by the last survivors of earth, and he was working on one about computers replacing people when he died. His third symphony, included on the mixtape in its entirety, was for many years the most often programmed Swedish symphony on the European continent.
A very varied selection of works – electronic, orchestral, chamber, vocal – on this mixtape, united perhaps by their general tone: somber. The vocal piece – I speglarnas sal – scattered across the mixtape calls to mind black-and-white Ingmar Bergman period pieces (a la The Seventh Seal and Virgin Spring ) or The Passion of Joan d’Arc. Most of his output is available on the Swedish BIS and Caprice labels, and he’s well represented on Youtube.
01:24
Incidental Music from Ariana
04:09
Antal Dorati: Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Sisyphus Suite
Blomdahl: Symphony 3/Sisyphus/Ferritonons (Caprice Composer Series 21365)
22:11
Hand Palsson
Three Short Pieces, No. 1
Modern Swedish Piano (BIS 579)
23:18
Sixten Erling: Stockholm PO/Swedish Radio Choir
I speglamas sal, Movements 1-3
In the Hall of Mirrors (Caprice 21424)
36:05
Knut Sonstevold
Liten svit; I. Allegro commodo & II. Andante, quasi adagio
The Virtuoso Bassoon (BIS 122)
41:55
Leif Segerstam: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Symphony No. 2; I. Maestoso – Allegro giusto
Symphonies 1-3 (BIS 611)
48:46
Sixten Erling: Stockholm PO/Swedish Radio Choir
I speglarnas sal; Movement 4
In the Hall of Mirrors (Caprice 21424)
54:45
Three Short Pieces, No. 2
56:21
Petter Sundqvist: Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Vaknatten (The Wakeful Night); Adagio
Swedish Orchestral Favorites, v. 2 (Naxos 8553715)
1:02:19
incidental music from Ariana
1:04:12
Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra
Symphony No. 3 (Facetter)
Blomdahl: Symphony 3/Sisyphus (Swedish Society 1037)
1:27:19
Sixten Erling: Stockholm PO/Swedish Radio Choir
I speglarnas sal; Movements 7-9
In the Hall of Mirrors (Caprice)
1:40:57
Blomdahl: Swedish Radio SO
Chamber Symphony, I. Lento, maestoso e pesante
Blomdahl Conducts Blomdahl (Caprice 21697)
1:45:07
Three Short Pieces, No. 3
1:46:22
Stockholm PO
Forma Ferritonans
Blomdahl: Symphony 3/Sisyphus/Ferritonans (Swedish Society 1037)
2:00:27
incidental music from Ariana
Concentration Camp 