Once love was a song
Songs with lyrics by Lars Forssell (1928-2007)
Torsten Mossberg (tenor)
rec. 2024, Ersta Church, Rådmansö Church, Ingarö, Sweden
Sung Swedish texts with English translations enclosed
Reviewed as download
Sterling CDA 1878 [63]
Torsten Mossberg continues his traversal of prominent Swedish poets, and has reached one of the most versatile exponents of the genre in the postwar generation: Lars Forssell (1928 – 2007). Not only was he a poet; he was also a playwright, a prose writer, an author of children’s books and a translator. He was influenced by Swedish modernists like Erik Lindegren and Gunnar Ekelöf, and also T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound. Moreover he introduced the French cabaret tradition in Sweden and became widely known for his collaboration with the elite of Swedish popular singers. He even took part in the European Song Contest. He is certainly worthy of his own disc in Mossberg’s series. The melodic material is culled from various sources, primarily French cabaret songs (Léo Ferré in particular), but also Argentinian tangos and American evergreens by Cole Porter and Kurt Weill – only one Swedish composer, however: Olle Adolphson, who himself was a singer/songwriter. We find the same wide scope in the poems. As Mossberg says in his notes: “Lars Forssell’s lyrics are both lyrical and down-to-earth and often deal with love experiences, exposure and vulnerability. They can be provocative, politically pronounced, mix light and dark and can be both shimmeringly beautiful and agonizingly black.”
Several of the songs have become immensely popular, and many Swedish listeners, at least from the generation that grew up with them, will be able to hum along and often also know the texts by heart: track 1 Market memory, (beginning “Gungan går upp – och ned”); track 3 A Frenchman in Stockholm, (beginning ”Stockholm ler…”); track 6 Say what you want, (beginning ”Säj vad ni vill”); track 8 Desertören (better known with an alternative text “Jag står här på ett torg”); track 11 Spin my earth (in Swedish “Snurra min jord”). All the songs are sung in Swedish.
The tango melodies have a special history. The person who gave the tango its face in Sweden, was Evert Taube (1890 – 1976). He was a polymath: ballad singer, composer, poet, author and painter. Born on the Swedish west coast, close to the North Sea, he early went to sea, travelled to Argentina and for some time worked as a gaucho, a South American cowboy, and became a fan of tango, which was then a fairly new dance. He introduced the tango quite early in the 1920s – Stockholmsmelodi became one of his most popular songs and is still beloved. He recorded it several times, and his son Sven Bertil continued the tradition to launch Evert’s music in hundreds of concerts – and recordings. In 1988 Sven Bertil and Lars Forssell, who was a friend of the Taube family, went together to Argentina to experience Argentinian tango on location. This resulted in a tango LP, and Torsten Mossberg has included four songs from that LP. The fundamental characteristic of tango is melancholy and Forssell’s lyrics are congenially suited to that atmosphere. Besides Forssell’s exquisite lyrics, we get melodies from possibly the four greatest Argentinian tango composers of the 20th century: Hector Stamponi (track 4), Astor Piazzolla (track 10), Mariano Mores (track 13) and Carlos Gardel (track 15). Piazzolla’s fame as the one who brought tango from the brothel to the concert hall is still growing, and Gardel’s tragic death in an airplane crash in 1935 has immortalised him as the first tango superstar, but the one who composed the most famous tangos is undoubtedly Mariano Mores, who furthermore had a career of more than 75 years, still active when he was 95, and twice voted the greatest tango composer in history. His most famous composition is Uno from 1943, and that is the melody that hides itself behind the title of the album Once love was a song. I was immediately caught by this song, an old favourite since many years, that even Plácido Domingo recorded – so Torsten is in good company.
I have always admired Torsten Mossberg’s light and unforced singing, free from histrionics but still expressive. He is as good as ever here, still youthful, but he seems even more inspired than usual by Forssell’s texts. There is added vividity in his delivery and a rhythmic freedom and spontaneity that is infectious. The rapport between him and the other musicians is almost improvisatory, jazzy, jam-session-like. Most of the musicians have worked together in most of Mossberg’s productions and know each other well. They are indeed improvisation musicians, and there are several improvised interludes.
This is a very stimulating disc, and I hope that even non-Swedish listeners will appreciate it. Translating poetry into a foreign language is very difficult; you can never convey the nuances and play with rhythms accurately – but there is so much feeling and drama here even so, that I believe it is possible to enjoy a lot, anyway. Lars Forssell is certainly one of the greatest Swedish poets from the second half of the 20th century – and the most versatile.
Göran Forsling
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Contents
1. Market memory
Music: by Paul Misraki
2. When the summer clouds turn grey
Music: Cole Porter
3. A Frenchman in Stockholm
Music: Henri Salvador
4. Our last cafe
Music: Hector Stamponi
5. My ship
Music: Kurt Weill
6. Say what you want
Music: Léo Ferré
7. Belgrano
Music: Sebastian Piana/Catulo Castillo
8. The deserter
Music: Boris Viand
9. See, the Dreamer comes here
Music: Léo Ferré
10. Lost birds
Music: Astor B. Piazzolla
11. Spin my earth
Music: Léo Ferré
12. What happened to all the friends
Music: Léo Ferré
13. Once
Music: Mariano Mores
14. The Night
Music: Léo Ferré
15. Again
Music: Carlos Gardel
16. Aria
Music: Olle Adolphson
17. Norrbro
Music: Léo Ferré
Other performers
Jerry Adbo (accordion), Stina Hellberg Agback (harp), Ann-Marie Henning (piano), Jonas Isaksson (guitar), Isak Josefsson (double-bass), Magnus Marcks (double-bass), Andreas Nyberg (violin), Kajsa Zabzine (flute)
