Ingvar Lidholm

First we hear Three songs for Mezzo-Soprano and Strings, with Anne Sofie von Otter and the Edsberg String Orchestra conducted by Björn Sjögren. These songs were published in 1948 (together with another three) as Six Songs for Voice and Piano. The three selcted for this record were later set for strings. För vilsa fötter sjunger gräset and Vid Medelhavet are based on poems by Hjalmar Gullberg.

Mikael Samuelsson is the soloist in Six Songs for Baritone and Piano (pianist Ingrid Lindgren), to poems by E A Karlfeldt, Åke Nilsson, Gabriel Jönsson and Pär Lagerkvist. These settings were written in the 1940s but not presented as a song cycle until 1986.

The Concertina for Four Instrumentswas commissioned for the exclusive Guildhall Music Society in London and premièred in 1954.

The three songs by Gunnar Ekelöf were written on various occasions. Elisabeth Söderström recorded them in 1958. Ingvar Lidholm himself conducted, and the instrumentalists were Torleif Lännerholm, oboe, Tore Westlund, clarinet, Bertil Appelbom, viola, and Folke Bramme, cello.

Finally we hear Three Elegies and Epilogue for String Quartet. The first three movements date from 1940 and were supplemented in 1986 with an “Epilogue” (written in 1982). This performance of the Elegies by the Tale Quartet was recorded in 1991.