Legends of lake Mälaren 2 and 3

As promised: Ture Rangström, Mälarlegender 2 and 3, completing the set. In the second piece we arrive at the noisy and boisterous city and have difficulties in getting time to think or find our way, though the triumphant ending suggests the mission is accomplished. In the final part there is again total calm – as if on a perfect warm and windless lazy Sunday – in music so slow and uneventful it could be used as background for meditation. A simple melody unwinds under and over tremolos, and is eventually revealed as a chorale. The calm returns, and the music slows down so much that it is hard to tell when it stops.

Joachim

Rangstrom - Malar legends - 1: Lento improvisato, quasi Notturno (5:44)
Rangstrom - Malar legends - 2: Vivo moderato, maestoso e poco alla Burla (2:40)
Rangstrom - Malar legends - 3: Andante molto lento, di Legenda (5:10)

 

That was quick ! They are on the site. I've also reposted no.1 here in case someone wants to listen to the set.
I did not care so much for no.2 to be honest (not your fault) but the ending was original and surprising.
No.3 is IMO the most convincing of the set and you handle it very well. I am not sure what to make of Rangstrom as yet. He does not grip me like
de Frumerie and Atterberg do. Did Atterberg write any piano solo music ? If so, that might be something for you. His piano concertos are formidable.

Respect for your advocacy of Swedish music ! I've long wanted to dig into some Dutch music but I never seem to get started on it, except for a
small suite by Ton de Leeuw which is easy and took me only a day or so to practice and record.

 

Thanks Chris! I agree about no2 but think it has a place when performing the full set, to offset the introspective mood in 1 and 3. I am glad you liked no 3 because I was quite unsure of it myself, it is a bit ambiguous and required hard thought. Rangström's notation sometimes is almost deliberately ambiguous - for example what dynamics would you do in this measure? If this isn't a goof he must have intended the pianist to stop and think. And he likes to write large remote chords like D#7, meaning I have to scrutinize each note and then pencil in "Eb7".

Atterberg did not write for piano solo that I know. But I'll continue to look. There are some modern Swedish composers that I do not care much for (it's the kind of music where you sometimes smash all arms onto the keyboard) but there must be more. Frumerie of course is great but he was a virtuoso pianist and many of his pieces requires very quick fingerwork.

 

Haha, that is sort of puzzling indeed A piano subito followed by a crescendo seems the only way to handle this. Otherwise there's no option but to ignore the dim.

 

I've not been able to find any either. Given the marvellous almost Rachmaninov-like writing of his concerti it would be a great shame if there wasn't any solo music. I don't really care much for Stenhammar despite his towering pianism.

Ah but that can be fun. I had to do that once (though only with the right arm), at he close of Tveitt's Hardanger Tunes. For a spectacular example of this technique, see https://youtu.be/8acCOh282cw?t=5m17s

 

Thanks Monica! I'm glad you like it.

Joachim

 

Actually it sounded like it had already ended, but the composer (or maybe the pianist :wink: ) thought like "Hmmm... that was a bit boring. Let's throw in a surprise".

 

:shock: Oh man that's ugly. If you ever catch me doing that you may shoot me. (You'd have to hurry to get in before my wife though.)

 

Yes. What we need is pretty music, elegantly played by pretty ladies

 

I can assure you the pianist was as surprised as you are and didn't quite know what to make of it:

 

:lol:

Don't fret, there is hope for us. Two out of three ain't bad.

 

I am nothing if not predictable

 

Thanks Andrew!

I don't think the dynamics applies to different hands (that sounds just too weird), nor do I think that a p subito is intended (this would break the line and after all he could have written that had he wanted it). My best guess is that the dim is a large scale instruction (spanning into next measure) and the cresc a more local one, meaning that there will just be a hint of cresc initially. But it certainly makes you stop and think, which is what he may have intended.

Joachim