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Most favorite Scandinavian Composer?

  • F.A. Berwald

    Votes: 1 0.9%
  • Wilhelm Stenhammar

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ludvig Norman

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Johan Helmich Roman

    Votes: 1 0.9%
  • Hugo Alfvén

    Votes: 2 1.8%
  • Lars-Erik Larsson

    Votes: 1 0.9%
  • Carl Nielsen

    Votes: 11 9.9%
  • Hans Christian Lumbye

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Edvard Grieg

    Votes: 22 19.8%
  • Johan Svendsen

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Per NørgÃ¥rd

    Votes: 2 1.8%
  • Rued Langgaard

    Votes: 3 2.7%
  • Jean Sibelius

    Votes: 58 52.3%
  • Magnus Lindberg

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other who's excluded because of poll limit (comment)

    Votes: 10 9.0%

Scandinavian Composers

30K views 84 replies 46 participants last post by  Judith 
#1 ·
So who are your favorite Scandinavian Composers? Those of Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

Then Choose your most favorite from the poll.
 
#7 ·
Norman, Lumbye, Roman, Larsson and Svendsen are minor/very minor composers, whereas big names are missing - Pettersson, Rautavaara, Atterberg, Holmboe, Saariahoo, Valen, Langgaard ... or Nørholm, Bentzon, Ruders, Sørensen, Englund, Kokkonen, Merikanto, Melartin, Raitio, Gade, Tveitt etc. ...
Well, I suppose you can make Version 2 of this poll.
 
#9 ·
Norman, Lumbye, Roman, Larsson and Svendsen are minor/very minor composers, whereas big names are missing - Pettersson, Rautavaara, Atterberg, Holmboe, Saariahoo, Valen, Langgaard ... or Nørholm, Bentzon, Ruders, Sørensen, Englund, Kokkonen, Merikanto, Melartin, Raitio, Gade, Tveitt etc. ...
We are talking about Scandinavian composers here, so no Finns allowed.

Also, calling Lars-Erik Erik Larsson and Johann Svendsen minor composers is rather strange. Larsson was one of the most imporant Swedish composers of the mid 20th century.
And Svendsen, along with Halvorsen, were second only to Grieg! His output is admittedly rather small, but Svendsen's symphonies are really really great.
 
#11 · (Edited)
This is a matter of debate. Some will include Finland in Scandinavia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavia )

Concerning the composers, I am calling them minor because they were relatively conservative/traditional and not groundbreaking in the same way as those I mention. Valen and Tveitt are more important IMO among the Norwegians - they are experiencing a lot more interest now, and the list shouldn´t be stuck in pre-1920 Romantic thinking.

Larsson excelled a lot in pastorals and a divertimento-like style, lacking intellectual weight. The "Förklädd Gud" might be an exception, I haven´t heard it. However I agree that calling him minor is probably an exaggeration, at least in a Swedish context, since he experienced with various styles, including serialism, at an early time in that country.
 
#17 ·
Larsson excelled a lot in pastorals and a divertimento-like style, lacking intellectual weight. The "Förklädd Gud" might be an exception, I haven´t heard it. However I agree that calling him minor is probably an exaggeration, at least in a Swedish context, since he experienced with various styles, including serialism, at an early time in that country.
Förklädd Gud is rather pastoral. But it's gorgeous. And the text is wonderful.

And have you heard his 12 concertinos, op. 45?
 
#6 ·
Poll limit, It always slow us down! At least I'm courageous enough to make polls :lol:

I must vote Sibelius but in this poll Grieg gets my vote.
I don't know many of them (their works), so in a year from now my chosen one will change possibly.
 
#10 ·
I was going to vote for Grieg until I saw Larsson being called a "minor" composer... :)
 
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#15 ·
Lately, I have been listening to a great deal of music by 20th century Danish composer Vagn Holmboe, who wrote more or less in a neo-classical sort of style. He didn't embrace pure 12-tone. I thought his symphonies were reasonably enjoyable. He was quite talented as a composer, who at age 16 "began formal music training at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen on the recommendation of Carl Nielsen".
 
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#16 · (Edited)
voted for "other".

Like joen_cph above, I many names of Scandinavian composers who I could list, but since this poll is not multiple choice, I'll select my favorite from each country.

Favorite Swede: Karl-Birger Blomdahl
Favorite Norwegian: Arne Nordheim
Favorite Icelandic: Jon Leifs
Favorite Finn: Aarre Merikanto
 
#21 · (Edited)
Norway: Grieg ahead of Tveitt, Halvorsen and Svendsen
Sweden: Alfven, ahead of Atterberg, Stenhammar and Nystroem.
Denmark: Nielsen, ahead of Holmboe, Norgard and Langgaard.
Iceland: Leifs (the only one I know, but very good)

and, although not Scandinavian:

Finland: Sibelius, ahead of Salinen, Rautavaara and Madetoja.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Finns are ethnically, linguistically, historically and culturally very different from the neighbouring Scandinavians, who share a history, culture and have close ethnic and linguistic links.
Overall you are right, but it´s not black-and-white. For instance, as regards the cultural, political and geographical similarities, The Nordic Council/Nordisk Råd as a means of rather close cooperation between the countries in many fields includes Finland and was established back in 1952. Projects concerning a Northern Political Union, also including Finland, were popular in Scandinavia in the later part of the 20th century as a possible alternative to European Union membership and still pop up regularly.

The Swedish language is widespread in Finland and to some extent vice-versa. Finland was Swedish from the 14th until the early 19th century.
The countries have shared a well-fare society model in the 20th Century too.

That there is a strong current of Finnish nationalism in Finnish music is undisputable however.
 
#24 · (Edited)
This is the hardest poll I've ever partaken in.

Grieg, Nielsen, Tveitt, Svendsen, Halvorsen. I love them all equally, almost.

Valen not on the list is scandalous though.


That Finland is a Nordic country and part of the north - no one's going to argue with you about that, but Finland is not Scandinavian.
 
#28 ·
To this day, I still like Grieg more than Sibelius. Sibelius is hard to swallow for me sometimes because he's just so austere.

I would have preferred to have it a multiple choice so I could pick a number there.

Halvorsen is another great Norwegian composer!
 
#29 ·
My wrong-side-of-the-pond understanding is that the Scandinavian countries share a common language base (Old Norse). When I wish to refer to a group that includes Finland I use 'north-of-the-Baltic'.

Anyway, my favorite Scandinavian composer is Crusell - those clarinet concertos are lovely things. Quantity of output be damned.

;)
 
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#30 · (Edited)
Concerning the Scandinavia definition, my main point is that

1) the historical and cultural connections between especially Sweden and Finland should not be underestimated

2) given the increasing collaboration and similarities between the countries in the politial and cultural sense during the 20th century, a widened definition of "old" Scandinavia (as found the Pan-Scandinavism movement of the 19th Century) doesn´t represent a problem, at least to me - and a lot of others.

As a consequence of the opposite view, one will have to dismiss a lot of more or less scholarly works as failed, being it in the field of Scandinavian design, art or music - a few examples:

http://www.amazon.com/Scandinavian-Music-Finland-Sweden-v/dp/0838623468
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_design
http://www.amazon.com/Scandinavian-Modernism-Painting-Denmark-1910-1920/dp/0847811328
http://www.boheme-magazine.net/vol2/feb05/exhibit.html
http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/europe/scandinavian-europe-travel-guide-10/
 
#31 ·
If the term Scandinavia trips you up because it's more wide than just the Scandinavian peninsula, Iceland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden were all Viking peoples, easy to remember. Finland is the outlier, they were nomads, and no one is completely sure how they came to being. They may have Mongol/Japanese connections, but also German or Slavic connections. They're likely a mish-mash of many people groups that simply spoke a common language brought from the East very likely.
 
#34 ·
So I unintentionally trolled you! :lol:

Finland is culturally-historically chained to Sweden (the prime country of Scandinavia) and so is part of Scandinavia.

--------------------------------------

Off this poll I suggest one very talented fellow Creates Piano Quintet poll ... I give you one month to create it. If it doesn't happen, I create it myself!

My candidates for Piano Quintet: Schumann, Schubert, Dvorak, Sibelius, Brahms. I'm not familiar with Other quintets, so they're up to you to discuss them here or elsewhere...
 
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