Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra

The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is delving into its country’s neglected repertoire, specifically the post-romantic composer Allan Pettersson. Overshadowed by more assertive contemporaries, Pettersson nevertheless had a penchant for the extensive orchestral exposition in the fashion of Mahler. Taking inspiration from his own life, his Symphonic Movement tacks between pain and deliverance, and between hope and despair. At an earlier time, Robert Schumann had also had to rid himself of such demons as loneliness and madness by means of composing. He composed his rarely performed Violin Concerto only months before he lost the struggle. In an agitated, virtuoso duel between the violin and orchestra, the Russian star Alina Ibragimova briefly brings Schumann’s complex emotional world back to life. And in Berlioz’ Roméo et Juliette, the prominent British conductor Daniel Harding guides the orchestra through a dramatic sequence. In several powerful scenes, this suite from the choral symphony of the same name offers an outline of Shakespeare’s eternal classic. Berlioz’ masterpiece is so full of imagery that the listeners can almost see the events unfold before their eyes.