Dreams – Poems by Nils Ferlin
Torsten Mossberg (tenor)
Stina Hellberg Agback (harp), Jonas Isaksson (guitar), Andreas Nyberg (violin), Jan Bergnér (double bass), Anders Karlqvist (piano)
rec. 2022, Grisslinge gård, Ingarö, Sweden
Songbook with the Swedish texts and English translations included
Reviewed as download from press preview
Sterling CDA1869-2 [46]
Nils Ferlin (1898–1961) was one of the most loved Swedish poets of the 20th century – and still is, even among people who don’t normally read poetry. Many of his poems have been set to music, perhaps more than any other Swedish poet – though the competition is stiff – mainly because his poetry is universal and timeless. Torsten Mossberg, who has for many years now explored the treasuries of Swedish poetry set to music, has chosen to devote this latest – and, he declares his ultimate – project to Ferlin settings. He has delved deep in the archives; of the twenty songs he has selected, only a handful are generally well-known: Gunnar Turesson’s Syner i lövsprickningen, Torgny Björk’s I folkviseton, and three by Lille Bror Söderlundh: En liten konstnär, En valsmelodi and Får jag lämna några blommor. It is worth noting that Mossberg previously devoted a disc exclusively to Söderlundh’s songs, recorded as early as 2000 (review), which included one of the songs here but accompanied by piano only. Some other songs on this present disc have also featured on previous albums.
However, back to the album under scrutiny: all five composers represented here were also singers, or troubadours as we often call them in Sweden. Four of them were born within a seven-year period just before WW1. The odd man out, Torgny Björk, was born in 1938 and was active as singer until the end of his life; he passed away as recently as June 2021. Of the others, both Söderlundh and Bergner belonged to the group of artists, authors and musicians who under the collective name Klarabohemerna “The Klara Bohemians” socialised in central Stockholm in the 1930s, where Ferlin was a central character. Bode and his wife became friends with Ferlin and his wife in the 1940s. Bode is represented with no less than 10 songs and was a special person: a brilliant, very musical man, a fluent composer in various genres, an elegant singer and entertainer who made more than 400 gramophone recordings – but also a notorious thief, swindler and, in due time, jailbird. During the war, he was also a Nazi sympathiser and as a result was boycotted. He fled to Norway where he was imprisoned by Gestapo. He was twice treated in a psychiatric hospital. In the 1950, he moved to Austria and wrote several popular operettas under a pseudonym but was again arrested for check fraud and went back to Sweden. There he had periods of depression, but in 1968 he made a comeback with some utterly indecent songs, which became very popular and made it possible for him to live a good life. His Ferlin settings were composed in the 1940s and it seems that Ferlin admired them, but they were never performed in public due to the boycott. Musically, several of them are of high quality, while others are more run-of-the-mill. Disregarding his objectionable personal life, these ten songs, many of them never before recorded, may be seen as valuable additions to the Swedish song tradition.
This collection opens with the title song, Drömmar (Dreams). It is a beautiful melody with a personal touch, and the accompaniment is delicious – characteristic of the whole programme. All the instruments are featured soloistically, and there are often long preludes, interludes and postludes, which contribute greatly to a very varied programme. The colourful arrangements are by Jonas Isaksson and Stina Hellberg Agback. Bode’s melodic vein is evident, and several of the songs here are catchy. Men går jag över ängarna has true folksong character, while Du skumma gators blomma is alively tango. Till en gammal bekant is in olden-time schlager-style, while Ser man dessa vissna löv is harmonically more modernistic – but all of his songs, which were new to me, have their own charm, the loveliest perhaps being Vinden viskar.
Gunnar Turesson’s two songs are permeated with the warmth that is so typical of this composer, while Tor Bergner’s Av ständig oro has a roughness typical of his personality. I once sat close to him at the legendary restaurant “Den Gyldene Freden” in Stockholm’s Old Town, where he often spent his evenings and occasionally sang a song or two. Torgny Björk’s setting of I folkviseton is a much-loved song that often is performed at weddings . It is tender and affectionate. The composer most associated with Ferlin is no doubt Lille Bror Söderlundh, and I am sure that every Swede with an interest in the troubadour repertoire knows more or less by heart the three songs listed in the first paragraph of this review. Cirkus is more of a rarity, though composed practically at once when the poem was published in 1938. Över tusen hav is of much later date, in the early 1950s, when the composer had turned his attention towards art music. It is no overstatement to call it modernistic.
As is always his signum, Torsten Mossberg never overinterprets the songs. He trusts the poems and the melodies and presents them in best possible light through his impeccable enunciation and musical phrasing. This is a disc to savour, not least for the many premier recordings; my only regrets are the somewhat parsimonious playing time and Mossberg’s threat that this is his final project – a decision I hope he will reconsider.
Göran Forsling
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Contents
Drömmar, from Med många kulörta lyktor, 1944 2:38
Music: Johnny Bode (1912–1983)
Syner i lövsprickningen, from En döddansares visor, 1930 2:45
Music: Gunnar Turesson (1906–2001)
Getsemane, from Goggles, 1938 2:27
Music: Johnny Bode
Cirkus, from Goggles, 1938 3:16
Music: Lille Bror Söderlundh (1912–1957)
Brådska, from Med många kulörta lyktor, 1944 1:30
Music: Johnny Bode
Av ständig oro, from Barfotabarn, 1933 1:48
Music: Tor Bergner (1913–1990)
Men går jag över ängarna, from Med många kulörta lyktor, 1944 3:14
Music: Johnny Bode
Höstmelodi, from Du hjärtans tröst och Lilja. Bonniers, 1964. 2:17
Music: Gunnar Turesson
Med många kulörta lyktor, from Med många kulörta lyktor, 1944 1:35
Music: Johnny Bode
I folkviseton, from Från mitt ekorrhjul, 1957 2:02
Music: Torgny Björk (1938–2021)
Precis som förut, from Goggles, 1938 1:25
Music: Torgny Björk
Du skumma gators blomma / Profeten, from En döddansares visor, 1930 2:48
Music: Johnny Bode
Över tusen hav, from Kejsarens papegoja, 1951 1:36
Music: Lille Bror Söderlundh
Ser du dessa vissna löv, from En döddansares visor, 1930 1:56
Music: Johnny Bode
En liten konstnär, from Goggles, 1938 2:30
Music: Lille Bror Söderlundh
Till en gammal bekant, from Barfotabarn, 1933 2:15
Music: Johnny Bode
En valsmelodi, from En döddansares visor, 1930 4:03
Music: Lille Bror Söderlundh
Får jag lämna några blommor, from En gammal cylinderhatt, 1962 2:31
Music: Lille Bror Söderlundh
Vinden viskar, from Med många kulörta lyktor, 1944 1:33
Music: Johnny Bode
Inte angår det mej, from En döddansares visor, 1930 1:37
Music: Johnny Bode
