Kent Olofsson, Åke Parmerud, Håkan Larsson & Anders Nilsson
String Quintets & Sextets

Uppsala Kammarsolister
Nils-Erik Sparf, violin
Klara Hellgren, violin
Bernt Lysell, violin
Susanne Magnusson, viola
Erik Wahlgren, cello
Yngve Malcus, bass

phono suecia PSCD 190

An excellent programme of recent strings chamber music from a leading Swedish ensemble. Nothing too recondite or inaccessible.

The composers are all mature and successful, born 1950s-early '60s. The idioms vary from modernist-experimental to late romanticsm (Anders Nilsson's Autumn for string sextet harks back unashamedly to Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht). Olofsson's Capriccio Higgs Bosun has modest electronic enhancement. Parmerud reflects on 'possible impossibilities, the unexpected expected'...

Recording impeccable and the booklet presentation stylish; a most enjoyable disc.

Warmly recommended, and let's hope some efforts are made to get them to London, possibly for sessions at the Colleges, and maybe a recital at Kings Place, which would be ideal?

Peter Grahame Woolf