On Friday 5th of August 2022, the Oulu Symphony Orchestra releases an album full of music by the Swedish composer Ludvig Norman (1831–1885). Norman was a highly fascinating artist who inspired a generation of Swedish composers and was widely respected, although his 3rd Symphony was premiered only after the composer’s death.
Music to the album was chosen by Johannes Gustavsson, the former Chief Conductor of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra, who is also conducting on the recording. The album is published by Ondine.
Born in Stockholm, Norman went at the age of 16 to study at the famous Leipzig Conservatory, where his teachers included Ignaz Moscheles (piano) and Julius Rietz (composition). Having returned to Stockholm as a professional musician and composer deeply inspired by his impressions of musical life in Leipzig. Norman is often considered to be among Sweden’s premier symphonists after A.F. Lindblad and Franz Berwald (1796–1868). His contribution to the Swedish orchestral repertoire comprises three symphonies, three overtures and a Funeral March. Stenhammar described the composer’s 3rd Symphony as ‘full of beauty’ and even claimed that he valued it more than ‘any of Brahms’s symphonies’.
The album, titled as Ludvig Norman, is published as CD and can be streamed in most common streaming services. The CD can be bought bought from the Oulu Symphony Orchestra’s concerts.
Ludvig Norman
1. Concert Overture in E-flat major, Op. 21
2. Funeral March, ‘To the Memory of August Söderman’, Op. 46
3. Overture to Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, Op. 57
4.–7. Symphony No. 3 in D minor, Op. 58
Oulu Symphony Orchestra
Johannes Gustavsson, conductor
Samples in YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0R5bVHAzpE