A fiddler’s last journey
Songs by Dan Andersson (1888 – 1920)
Torsten Mossberg (tenor), Stina Hellberg (harp), Jerry Adbo (accordion), Jonas Isaksson (guitar), Andreas Nyberg (violin)
rec. 2023, Sickla Studio, Nacka, Sweden
Sung texts with English translations enclosed
Sterling CDA 1873 [55]

Torsten Mossberg has purposefully produced a steady stream of CDs of Swedish songs and a number of mixed thematic programmes, but has lately also focused on individual poets or singers/songwriters. The latest is Dan Andersson, who more than 100 years after his premature death is still one of the most beloved poets, and also composed the music for several of his songs. Growing up in poor circumstances, in many of his poems he describes hard work and sad events; death is a common theme, and love is another. His popularity is easy to understand as his poems are easy to take to one’s heart, and many composers, both light-music writers and more art-music-oriented, have been inspired to write attractive melodies to his words. Both categories are represented on this album. Many of the most popular songs are here, but there are also some surprises. 

Well known to most Swedes of a certain age, is the sailor’s song Jungman Jansson, set by the poet himself. He was never a sailor, although aged 14 he visited the US to scout the possibilities for emigration, but soon found that the living conditions were hardly better than in Sweden. His other two own compositions are more autobiographical: A high and the inward To my sister. Some experience of the charcoal-burners’ existence is also mirrored in A weekend in the wooden house, which I believe is the earliest composition here, by the pioneer of the Swedish vissång (Chanson singing) Sven Scholander. One of the greatest Swedish troubadours of the last few decades, Thorstein Bergman, who passed away two years ago, is also represented by three songs: The memory, To my longing and The geese are moving. All three quickly entered the canon of the really great Dan Andersson settings, to which also Dan’s brother-in-law, Gunnar Turesson’s two contributions belong. 

Less well known is Lille Bror Söderlundh’s My song should be light, a gem from a very versatile composer with one foot in each of the two genres. He is better known for his settings of Nils Ferlin’s poems, to which Mossberg recently devoted a disc. The great symphonist Allan Pettersson – whose 17 symphonies and a great violin concerto are highly regarded though not always easy to come to terms with – also set A song in solitude as early as 1935, long before his symphonic output and also a decade before his more famous Barefoot songs. 

The Swedish national poet of the 20^th century, Evert Taube, who mostly set his own texts, made a rare exception, and set the title song of this collection. It is the longest of the songs here, and is indeed fascinating to hear. 

Equally fascinating are the two concluding songs, which I believe will be unknown to the majority of the Swedish public. Ture Rangström, a few years older than Dan Andersson, was a central member of the composers of the beginning of the 20^th century. He wrote four symphonies and two operas, but most of all he was the most important composer of art songs of his generation. He primarily championed Bo Bergman, but these two settings of Dan Andersson are as sensitive as anything by him. Neither of the poems is among Andersson’s best known, but hopefully they will be eye-openers and entice readers to delve more deeply into his productions. 

Torsten Mossberg’s approach to these literary and musical treasures is well-known to his listeners. He is a non-interventionist, never over-interpreting but still delivering the songs in a highly personal manner. His articulation is immaculate, his tone beautiful, his voice amazingly youthful for a man in his late seventies. His regular group of accompanists, Stina Hellberg Agback, harp, Jonas Isaksson, guitar (who share the responsibility for the arrangements) and Andreas Nyberg, violin, is here complemented by Jerry Adbo, accordion; together, they produce colourful and varied backgrounds, sometimes with a surprising twist. In the liner notes, Mossberg argues for the validity of deviating from the traditional troubadour accompaniment with guitar or lute. I, for one, am convinced that this is repertoire that can withstand unorthodox treatment, so long as the texts and the music are not violated – and they certainly are not. 

I derived a lot of pleasure from this disc, and if this is his final album – which he has threatened it is – it is a worthy conclusion to a valuable series of Swedish song classics.

Göran Forsling

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Contents

1. Min sång ska vara ljus (My song should be light) Music: Lille Bror Söderlundh
2. Jungman Jansson (Jungman Jansson) Music: Dan Andersson
3. Till min Maria (To my Maria) Music: Pär Sörman
4. Ett rus (A high) Music: Dan Andersson
5. Spelmannen (The fiddler) Music: Ragnar Ågren)
6. Gässen flytta (The geese are moving) Music: Thorstein Bergman
7. Till min syster (To my sister) Music: Dan Andersson
8. En visa i ensamhet (A song in solitude) Music: Allan Pettersson
9. En visa till fiol (A song with a violin) Music: Nils Birgersson
10. Minnet (The memory) Music: Thorstein Bergman
11. Jag väntar (I’m waiting) Music: Gunnar Turesson
12. Om aftonen (In the evening) Music: Gunnar Turesson
13. Nu mörknar min väg (Now darkens my road) Music: Nisse Munck
14. En spelmans jordafärd (A fiddler’s last journey) Music: Evert Taube
15. Helgdagskväll I timmerkojan (A weekend night in the wooden cabin) Music: Sven Scholander
16. Till min längtan (To my longing) Music: Thorstein Bergman
17. Till smärtan (To the pain) Music: Ture Rangström
18. Den gamle (The old man) Music: Ture Rangström