Symphony No. 9 (Pettersson)

Allan Pettersson wrote his Symphony No. 9 in 1970.

Symphony No. 9
by Allan Pettersson
Composed1970 (1970): Stockholm
Dedication"For the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and its chief conductor Sergiu Comissiona"
Performed18 February 1971 (1971-02-18): Gothenburg
Duration65:00 – 70:00
MovementsOne

History

The symphony is his last composition preceding a nine-month stay in Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm (starting September 1970);[1][2] Pettersson composed the symphony in less than half a year.[3]

Structure

It is Pettersson's longest symphony with a duration of ca. 65–70 minutes.[4][lower-alpha 1] There is one movement, though it divides into a number of smaller sections that follow each other with at most nominal pause but usually none.[5][lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3]

Music

Much though not all of the material in the symphony is based on the ascending (and later descending) chromatic[6] scale motif heard at the very beginning, played by bassoons, violas and cellos.[5] Additional material is a repeated-note figure.[6] Pettersson juxaposes innocent, diatonic melodies with passages of great contrapuntal ferocity.[6] There are sections of tango and canon and also a quotation of Song No. 10 "Jungfrun och Ljugarpust" (The Maiden and the Lying Wind) from his Barefoot Songs.[3] The Ninth can be described as an extended struggle in which harmony is the ultimate winner.[3] The concluding bars of the symphony[lower-alpha 4] consist of a long final melody (in Peter Ruzicka's terms: a "Canto") played by violins and cellos and later by the violas in unison, and ends in a slow peaceful plagal cadence[6] into F major.[3][5]

Paul Rapoport uses adjectives like vast, nightmarish and delirious to characterize the symphony.[6] The symphony is a natural, organic unity and demanding for musicians and listeners.[3]

Performances

Pettersson dedicated the symphony to Sergiu Comissiona and the Gothenburg Symphony, who premiered it on 18 February 1971[5][6] and had commissioned it for the 350th Anniversary of the Founding of the City of Gothenburg.[5] It was played again in December 1974, and the first Stockholm performances were given on 25 and 26 May 1976.[6] Comissiona described later the Ninth as "Jupiter" among Pettersson's symphonies.[7]

Score

The miniature score was published in 1989 by Nordiska Musikforlaget of Stockholm and runs to 385 pages and 2146 bars.[4][3]

Recordings
  • Sergiu Comissiona, conductor, Gothenburg Symphony; on Philips 2-LP set 6767 951, 1978. OCLC 604049544
  • Alun Francis, conductor, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; on cpo 999 231–2, 1994. OCLC 1011485081
  • Christian Lindberg, conductor, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra; on BIS 2038, 2013. OCLC 883802421

Notes
  1. the average length in the commercial recordings so far is around 70 minutes. Exception is the Comissiona recording with ca. 84 minutes (Comissiona: 83'58, Francis: 69'52, Lindberg: 70'11).
  2. The notes to the cpo recording identify 17 such sections, partially for analysis. Meyer: "The tracks are in no way to be understood as separate movements but do represent attempts to identify breaks or turning points in the score."
  3. The BIS recording is divided in 9 sections.[3]
  4. cpo recording, track 17, from three measures before rehearsal 208 in the score to the end - about 5 minutes

References
  1. Ollefs, Christian (1989). "Epilog (Subjektive Begegnung mit einem Phänomen)". In Im Auftrag der Internationalen Allan-Pettersson-Gesellschaft von Michael Kube (ed.). Allan Pettersson Jahrbuch. 1989 (in German). Saarbrücken: Pfau Verlag. pp. 49–51. ISBN 978-3-89727-195-1.
  2. Kube, Michael (2013). "Då behöver man distansen [Da braucht man Distanz]. Biografie und Werk zwischen Selbstinszenierung und Reflexion". In Tadday, Ulrich (ed.). Allan Pettersson, Musik-Konzepte (edition text+kritik) (in German). München: Richard Boorberg Verlag. pp. 5–22. ISBN 978-3-86916-275-1.
  3. Olsson, Per-Henning (2013). Pettersson: Symphony No. 9 (PDF) (booklet). Chistian Lindberg and Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. Åkersberga: BIS-2038. pp. 2–7. OCLC 995556946.
  4. "Pettersson, Allan: SINFONIE NR. 9 | Sikorski Music Publishers". www.sikorski.de.
  5. Meyer, Andreas K.W. (1994). Pettersson: Symphony No. 9 (booklet). Alun Francis and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. Georgsmarienhütte, Germany: cpo 999 231–2. OCLC 1011485081.
  6. Rapoport, Paul (September 1976). "Allan Pettersson's 9th Symphony". Tempo. New Series (118): 47–9. JSTOR 944238.
  7. Comissiona, Sergiu; Ollefs, Christian (1986). "Die Fragen kommen wieder". In Im Auftrag der Internationalen Allan-Pettersson-Gesellschaft von Michael Kube (ed.). Allan Pettersson Jahrbuch. 1986 (in German). Saarbrücken: Pfau Verlag. pp. 37–42. ISBN 978-3-89727-192-0.

Further reading
  • Gülke, Peter (2001). "Protest, Vergeblichkeit, verweigerte Resignation: Gedanken beim Studium von Allan Petterssons Neunter Sinfonie.". Die Sprache der Musik. Essays zur Musik von Bach bis Holliger (in German). Kassel: Bärenreiter. pp. 445–451. ISBN 978-3-7618-2025-4.
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