Rarely do orchestral collections such as this avoid mixing the well-known with the over-familiar, full marks, then, to BIS for mixing in local compositional colour, including a world premiere recording. The Carmen Suite, Satie/Debussy and Glinka items will be the main attractions of this generously-filled disc, but anyone who has previously encountered the music of Lars-Erik Larsson (1908–86) will want this for Dagens stunder (''The Hours of the Day'') alone. Larsson wrote this delightful music in 1938 to accompany a poetry recitation, later extracting from it his most popular and enduring work, the Pastoral Suite, Op. 19.
Hilding Rosenberg (1892–1985) was a fine composer of great range. The entertaining overture to his opera The Marionettes (1939) is a real winner though in a style lighter than that of his larger-scale works, and compares favourably with the Glinka and Shostakovich overtures. A recording of the whole opera is overdue, but even in his centenary year one has not materialized. Johan Svendsen (1840–1911), like Larsson, is one of those composers who hover on the periphery of popularity by virtue of a few untypical trifles but whose larger concerns have been passed over. Whilst undoubtedly modest in ambition, the 1881 Romance is a good example in miniature of his muse and should encourage listeners to explore his output further. The short dance by Hugo Alfven (1872–1960), originally part of the incidental music to a play, is pleasant but a little light-weight to round off the whole disc.
The performances show the orchestra and conductor in the best of lights—and so they should—captured by a recording fully up to BIS's high standard. If you are looking for a demonstration of Value For Money in action, then this is it.'