[I've moved the first two posts from the Hallstrom: Vikingarna thread (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,6600.0.html) - Mark]:
At the end of the opera broadcast there was a rewarding symphony by a Norwegian composer completely unknown to me: Alf Hurum.
The symphony in question is in D minor and was composed in 1927 and is in three programmatic movements:
1-The Great Forest
2-A Winter Night on the Plains
3-The Viking Ship
Played by the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Alexander Dmitriev
The Simax CD is deleted but so long as Swedish Radio 2 leave the feed live it's well worth a listen for some late romanticism. It starts at 2:28:50 just after the guitar music and lasts 28 minutes.
What little I know/know of by Hurum (1882-1972) might be worth another thread; his (2nd) violin sonata (published 1915) and string quartet in A minor (1912, on a 1998 CD with his Bendik og Aarolilja, Op. 20 (1923) and the mentioned symphony on Simax) seem interesting. '
The quartet/symphony CD can be heard on Naxos Music Library, it seems, and perhaps on other streaming services. E.g. "streaming" (https://www.amazon.com/Alf-Hurum-Quartet-Aarolilja-Symphony/dp/B001CKWNY8) at Amazon.com USA too (or $8.99 MP3 disc).
Like BerlinExpat, I came across it whilst recording the opera. It's a very fine piece of 20th century romanticism and well worth investigating. The CD may now be unavailable, but the tracks (minus booklet unfortunately) can be downloaded from Qobuz here: www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/-hurum-alf/7033662031108 (http://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/-hurum-alf/7033662031108), and I'd recommend doing so because the sound is obviously superior to the broadcast. The symphonic poem and the quartet are equally enjoyable, although they don't quite share the Symphony's drive, perhaps.
There's also a CD of his piano music on the Norwegian label Thema (not his complete piano music, I think- e.g. Op.1 is only excerpted?- but contains at least portions from 10 opus numbers on 2 CDs), and another with his violin and piano music on the same label (both violin sonatas and a couple of other pieces.)
The above 2 CDs are also on YouTube......
The album concerned is also available from e-music (@42p per track!)
My apologies -the album IS listed but is NOT available!
Sorry
Richard
Beautiful stuff, thanks for the links.