WILHELM STENHAMMAR (1871-1927): The Song (Iwa Sörensen [soprano], Anne Sofie von Otter [mezzo], Stefan Dahlberg [tenor], Per-Arne Wahlgren [baritone], Swedish Radio Choir, Chamber Choir of the State Academy of Music, Stockholm, Children's Choir of the Adolf Fredrik Music School, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Herbert Blomstedt), 2 Sentimental Romances for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 28 (Arve Tellefsen [violin], SRSO: Stig Westerberg), Ithaca for Baritone and Orchestra, Op. 21 (Håkan Hagegård [baritone], SRSO; Kjell Ingebretsen).

Description: Complex in its demands on the singers, The Song was Stenhammar's last major work (1921) and sets a text by composer/poet Ture Rangström. Lasting 35 minutes, it's in two sections, the first dramatic and intensely lyrical with lavish polyphonic writing and a vigorous, exuberant allegro which are separated by an orchestral interlude. Ithaca (1904) is a nine-minute tone poem of Wagnerian breadth in which the orchestra carries all the musical material, the baritone almost in an obbligato role. This remains the only recording of The Song. Recorded 1971, 1981, 1982. 1987 CD release.