Herbert Blomstedt is the absolute biggest Swedish conductor of the modern era. He has conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra well over 200 times since his debut in 1954. He is an international great, having worked with the Dresden Staatskapelle, Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and above all, the San Francisco Symphony, where he spent a decade as chief conductor. 

At this welcome return of September 2022, he conducted the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Arthur Honegger’s third symphony, composed shortly after World War II. Here, in perhaps his best known work, Honegger describes human joy and despair. The music can be interpreted as a journey from brutality to hope and peace. 

Brahms’ fourth and final symphony is infused with melancholic anxiety. It also undergoes a transformation, from difficult twilight to dark night. The fact that Brahms’ symphonic role model was Beethoven is well known and is also evident in the fourth symphony. But this does not mean imitation. The last movement is a dense and striking passacaglia, in which a recurring line of melody in the bass part forms the foundation for the dramatic, passionate finale.

Herbert Blomstedt appears in Brahms Symphony No. 4 courtesy of Pentatone.