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Allan Pettersson (1911-1980)

Allan Pettersson, composerAllan Pettersson occupies a lonely place in 20th-century music – seemingly alienated from any "school", professing an empathy with criminals and outcasts, and using the tools of an earlier generation: symphonies, songs, and concerti. Yet, more than any composer of our time, he has been able to provide a musical testament of a spiritual longing faced with the existential void that we see in the faces of the homeless, the sick, and the beaten-down. Although his music has been labeled "pessimistic", it is inherently hopeful and consolatory – we come away exhausted but enlightened. Isolated first by choice and later by crippling illness, he remained essentially unknown outside of Sweden until Antál Doráti championed his music with the recording of the Seventh Symphony in 1969. Today, 15 of his 16 symphonies have been recorded; one recording label is closing their complete cycle of his work, and another is well underway. (Pettersson withheld his First Symphony, and we are unlikely to hear it.)
-  Mark Shanks, Classical Net

COMPOSITIONS                                                            Pettersson Links     ~ ~ ~     Works by Genre
Allegretto scherzando (in the Swedish style), violin and cello (192?)
Två elegier (2 Elegies), violin and piano (1934) [3 elegier?]
6 Sånger (6 Songs), medium voice and piano (1935) [text: Björling, and others]
Fantasistycke (Fantasie), viola (1936) [for  Björn Sjögren]
4 improvisationer, violin, viola and cello (1936)
Sketch, string quartet (1936, incomplete)
Andante espressivo, violin and piano (1938)
Romanza, violin and piano (1942)

Lamento, piano (1945)
Fugue in E, oboe, clarinet and bassoon (1948)
Violin Concerto No. 1, violin and string quartet (1949)
Concerto No. 1 for String Orchestra (1949-50)
Symphony No. 1 (1950-51, incomplete)
7 Sonatas, 2 violins (1951)
Symphony No. 2 (1952-53)
Symphony No. 3 (1954-55)
Concerto No. 2 for String Orchestra (1956)
Concerto No. 3 for String Orchestra (1956-57)
Symphony No. 4 (1958-59)
Symphony No. 5 (1960-62)
Symphony No. 6 (1963-66)
Symphony No. 7 (1966-67)
Symphony No. 8 (1968-69)
Symphony No. 9 (1970)
Symphony No. 10 (1971-72)
Symphony No. 11 (1971-73)
Symphonic Movement, orchestra (1973)
Symphony No. 12, De döda på torget (The Dead on the Square), chorus and orchestra (1973-74) [text: Pablo Neruda]
Vox humana, SATB solists, chorus and orchestra (1974) [text: Neruda, and other South Amer. poetry]
Symphony No. 13 (1976)
Violin Concerto No. 2, violin and orchestra (1977-78)
Symphony No. 14 (1978)
Symphony No. 15 (1978)
Symphony No. 16, alto sax and orchestra (1979)
Viola Concerto (1979)
Symphony No. 17 (1980, incomplete)


WORKS BY GENRE                                                            Pettersson Links     ~ top of page ~
Orchestra
Concerto No. 1 for String Orchestra (1949-50)
Symphony No. 1 (1950-51, incomplete)
Symphony No. 2 (1952-53)
Symphony No. 3 (1954-55)
Concerto No. 2 for String Orchestra (1956)
Concerto No. 3 for String Orchestra (1956-57)
Symphony No. 4 (1958-59)
Symphony No. 5 (1960-62)
Symphony No. 6 (1963-66)
Symphony No. 7 (1966-67)
Symphony No. 8 (1968-69)
Symphony No. 9 (1970)
Symphony No. 10 (1971-72)
Symphony No. 11 (1971-73)
Symphonic Movement, orchestra (1973)
Symphony No. 12, De döda på torget (The Dead on the Square), chorus and orchestra (1973-74) [text: Pablo Neruda]
Symphony No. 13 (1976)
Symphony No. 14 (1978)
Symphony No. 15 (1978)
Symphony No. 16, alto sax and orchestra (1979)
Symphony No. 17 (1980, incomplete)

Soloist(s) w/Orchestra or Ensemble
Violin Concerto No. 1, violin and string quartet (1949)
Violin Concerto No. 2, violin and orchestra (1977-78)
Viola Concerto (1979)

Chorus w/Orchestra
Symphony No. 12, De döda på torget (The Dead on the Square), chorus and orchestra (1973-74) [text: Pablo Neruda]
Vox humana, SATB solists, chorus and orchestra (1974) [text: Neruda, and other South Amer. poetry]

Chamber
Allegretto scherzando (in the Swedish style), violin and cello (192?)
4 improvisationer, violin, viola and cello (1936)
Sketch, string quartet (1936, incomplete)
Fugue in E, oboe, clarinet and bassoon (1948)
Violin Concerto No. 1, violin and string quartet (1949)
7 Sonatas, 2 violins (1951)

Instrument and Piano
Två elegier (2 Elegies), violin and piano (1934) [3 elegier?]
Andante espressivo, violin and piano (1938)
Romanza, violin and piano (1942)

Solo Instrument
Fantasistycke (Fantasie), viola (1936) [for  Björn Sjögren]

Piano
Lamento, piano (1945)

Vocal
6 Sånger (6 Songs), medium voice and piano (1935)
    - Det blir stilla då kråkorna dör [text: Gunnar Olof Björling]
    - En visa i ensamhet [text: Dan Anderson]
    - Pinjen och blixten [text: Sten Selander]
    - Resignation [text: Ingeborg Fredrika Björklund]
    - Till flykt [text: Ingeborg Fredrika Björklund]
    - Mitt hjärta behöver ett litet barn [text: Allan Pettersson]

    - Visa i sorgton
    - Klokar och knythänder
    - Fattig är mor
    - Kärleken går vilse
    - Stjärnan och gallret
    - Nånting man mist
    - Blomma säj
    - Vintervisa
    - Liten ska vänta
    - Jungfrun och ljugarpust
    - En spelekarls himlafärd
    - Du vet
    - Du lögnar
    - Herren går på ängen
    - Hundarna vid havet
    - Kivlynnte liten
    - Jag tänker på ting
    - Blomma vid min fot
    - Rymmaren
    - Min längtan
    - Nu väntar man vinter
    - Vännen i söndagslandet
    - Mens flugorna surra
    - Han ska släcka min lykta


PETTERSSON  LINKS                                                            Works by Genre      ~ top of page ~
Allan Pettersson - A Composer Forgotten? (Chistopher Brakel, Society of Composers, Inc/scribd.com)
Allan Pettersson's Seventh Symphony in Words (Music in Words)
A Swedish Neo-Romantic Composer (Peter G. Davis, The New York Times, January 11, 1981)

Composer website   . . .   inquire about Allan Pettersson:  here
Allan Pettersson Society in Sweden
Composer website (by Paul Cauthen)
Allan Pettersson 100 år (Blog)
Internationale Allan Pettersson-Gesellschaft
Petterssonblog.de (in German)

Pettersson @ Wikipedia
Pettersson @ Answers.com
Pettersson @ Classical Archives
Pettersson @ Classical Composers Database
Pettersson @ Classical-music.com
Pettersson @ Classical Net
Pettersson @ ClassicsToday (via Google Advanced Search)
Pettersson @ The Dictionary of Composer and Their Music:  A Listner's Companion (Eric Gilder)
Pettersson @ Facebook
Pettersson @ La Folia
Pettersson @ From Dark To Light (Andy's Website)
Pettersson @ Gehrmans Musikförlag
Pettersson @ IMDb (Internet Movie Database)
Pettersson @ Karadar Classical Music
Pettersson @ Klassika
Pettersson @ Modern Classical
Pettersson @ MSN Music
Pettersson @ Music in Words (via Google Advanced Search)
Pettersson @ MusicWeb International
Pettersson @ Naxos
Pettersson @ The New York Times
Pettersson @ REC Music Foundation /The Lied and Art Song Texts Page
Pettersson @ rmusicreviews    also    here
Pettersson @ Svensk Musik
Pettersson @ Unsung Composers
Pettersson @ James Wagner

Publisher
Pettersson @ Chester Novello
Pettersson @ Gehrmans
Pettersson @ Edition Wilhelm Hansen [Chester Novello]
Pettersson @ Nordiska Musikförlaget
Pettersson @ Stanley, Lucas, Weber & Co.

Streaming Audio
Pettersson @ Classical Archives
Pettersson @ last.fm
Pettersson @ Rhapsody.com

Recordings
Pettersson @ Composer website
Pettersson @ Amazon.com
Pettersson @ ArkivMusic
Pettersson @ BIS Records
Pettersson @ Paul Cauthen’s Allan Petterson Page
Pettersson @ CD Universe
Pettersson @ ClassicsOnline
Pettersson @ Discogs
Pettersson @ Svensk Musik

Video
Pettersson @ YouTube
Pettersson @ Google Video
Pettersson @ Vimeo (via Google Advanced Search)
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