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Fanny & Felix Mendelssohn

Had it not been for the general attitude to men’s and women’s tasks the 19th century, we may be talking as much about Fanny’s musical achievements as we do about Felix’s. Fanny Mendelssohn composed more than 460 works, of which this String Quartet that Malin Broman has played a number of times, is here performed by a string orchestra. Felix’s Symphony No. 1 is a true work of youth – he wrote it at the tender age of 15. Sibelius wrote a total of six Humoresques for solo violin and orchestra over two years, short and pleasurable pieces that were very close to the heart of the composer.

When brother and sister Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn grew up, they were given their first musical schooling in the form of piano lessons by their mother, Lea. Fanny displayed exceptional talent from an early age and at thirteen, she could already play all 24 preludes from Bach’s Das wohltemperierte Klavier by heart, with great skill and confidence. As children, both siblings took classes under Marie Bigot in Paris and as teenagers, they studied under Ludwig Berger in Berlin.

Carl Friedrich Zelter, who later was to become their teacher in music theory and composition, confirmed in 1816 in a letter to the German national bard, Goethe, Fanny’s distinctive talent: “Abraham’s oldest daughter is really extraordinary,” Zelter wrote. Abraham was the head of the Mendelssohn family and in that capacity, he had the final say concerning his children’s education.

Despite Fanny’s great musical ability, which had made her renowned in Berlin’s artistic community, Abraham considered it inappropriate that his oldest daughter should make a living as a musician. In 1819, Fanny and then ten-year-old Felix, began studying under Carl Friedrich Zelter. The following year, when Fanny was 15 years old, her father Abraham wrote to her that ”music may well become Felix’s profession one day, but for you, music can only be an adornment”.

Felix developed under Zelter’s tutelage and, like Fanny, he started composing at an early age. He wrote his Symphony No. 1 when he was only fifteen and it was premièred at Fanny’s birthday party on November 14 the same year. Three years later, it was performed in public for the first time, in Leipzig. Fanny and Felix still collaborated closely throughout their lives. Fanny contributed valuable comments and advice about Felix’s compositions and he, in turn, encouraged Fanny’s continued musical efforts.

Fanny’s String Quartet is close to the heart of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra’s leader, Malin Broman. With great enthusiasm, Malin describes it as ”an amazing piece” and she has performed it numerous times. She is also in the process of recording the quartet. Moreover, Carl Friedrich Zelter, in a later letter to Goethe, gave Fanny what is probably the highest possible praise for a woman at that time: ”She plays music like a man.”

Finnish national composer, Jean Sibelius, is rightly famous for having contributed to his country’s national revival through his music, with grandiose works such as Finlandia, The Karelia Suite and Tapiola. The six Humoresques for Violin and Orchestra that Sibelius wrote between 1916 and 1917 are all more casual in nature, as implied by the title. Nonetheless, they are very skilfully put together and full of details and nuance in the virtuoso solo parts as well as in the orchestration. The soloist is provided with playful and lilting lines to follow and contour, which feels entirely right for such a skilled and expressive musician as Malin Broman.

Text: David Saulesco


SWEDISH RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA dot 2018/2019
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The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a multiple-award-winning ensemble renowned for its high artistic standard and stylistic breadth, as well as collaborations with the world’s finest composers, conductors, and soloists. It regularly tours all over Europe and the world and has an extensive and acclaimed recording catalogue.

Daniel Harding has been Music Director of the SRSO since 2007, and since 2019 also its Artistic Director. His tenure will last throughout the 2024/2025 season. Two of the orchestra’s former chief conductors, Herbert Blomstedt and Esa-Pekka Salonen, have since been named Conductors Laureate, and continue to perform regularly with the orchestra.

The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs at Berwaldhallen, concert hall of the Swedish Radio, and is a cornerstone of Swedish public service broadcasting. Its concerts are heard weekly on the Swedish classical radio P2 and regularly on national public television SVT. Several concerts are also streamed on-demand on Berwaldhallen Play and broadcast globally through the EBU.

Malin Broman is the first concertmaster of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2008. She served as artistic director of Musica Vitae in 2015–2020, premiering over 20 works and touring and recording extensively. In 2019, she succeeded Sakari Oramo as artistic director of the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra.

As a guest leader, she has been invited to perform with ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra. As combined soloist and leader she has performed with the Tapiola Sinfonietta, Nordic Chamber Orchestra, Trondheim Soloists and ACO Collective. Soloist highlights include performances with the Gothenburg Symphony, Copenhagen Phil, BBC Scottish Symphony, Academy of St Martin-in-the Fields, and the Swedish Radio Orchestra, working with such conductors as Neeme Järvi, Andrew Manze and Daniel Harding.

In recent years, she has premiered concertos by Daniel Börtz, Britta Byström, Andrea Tarrodi and Daniel Nelson. She has recorded over 30 albums, including concertos by Carl Nielsen and Britta Byström. Recent releases include an album with music by Laura Netzel, and Stockholm Diary with the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra. Her recording of Mendelssohn’s double concerto together with pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips and Musica Vitae was Grammy nominated in 2019.

She received much acclaim for her recording of Felix Mendelssohn’s string octet in the spring of 2020, where she played all eight parts herself. She has since made two similar recordings: Britta Byström’s octet A Room of One’s Own, and Johan Halvorsens Passacaglia recorded with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra’s solo contrabassist Rick Stotijn.

In 2001, she founded the Change Music Festival in Kungsbacka. She is also co-founder of Kungsbacka Piano Trio, with which she had played more than 700 concerts all ove the world, and of Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble which is made up of some of Europe’s most brilliant chamber musicians.

In 2008, Malin was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The Kungsbacka Piano Trio has received the prestigious Interpret Prize of the Royal Academy of Music. In 2019, she was awarded H.M. The King’s Medal. She is currently Professor of Viola at Edsberg Institute of Music in Stockholm. She plays a 1709 Stradivarius violin and a 1861 Bajoni viola, both generously loaned by the Järnåker Foundation.

Concert length: 1 h 10 min