Remarkable Symphony to be Broadcast

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 15, 24 October 1930, Page 5

Remarkable Symphony to be Broadcast

Winning Composition of £2,000 Competition NE of the features on 1YA’s programme for Friday, October 31, will O be the broadcasting of Kurt Atterberg’s "Symphony No. 6 in C Major" as recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham. Out of 500 works, this symphony was selected by a jury of eleven international musicians to receive the grand prize award insthe Schubert anniversary contest. Kurt Atterberg was born forty years ago in Gothenburg, Sweden, and studied in Germany. Returning to his native land, he became a noted musie critic in Stockholm, conductor of the Stockholm Orchestra, and president of the Swedish Society of Composers. His large works comprise such varied forms as opera, cantata, concertos for violin and ’cello, and five earlier symphonies. He now achieves a new fame by winning the £2000 grand prize in an international composers’ contest with his Sixth Symphony dedicated to the memory of Schubert. Atterberg’s pre-eminence among the many brilliant and scholarly composers who submitted works in the Schubert contest may be ascribed in great part to his splendid gift for melodic invention and brilliant orchestration. The Symphony is full of originality, picturesque beauty, exquisite melodies, and magnificent effects, often with touches of Scandinavian colour. The abounding energy of the Allegro, the poignant beauty of the Adagio, the humorous Fugato and terrific climax of the Finale, combine in making what is certainly one of the greatest symphonies of recent times, Of it, one eminent English musician, to whom advance proofs of these records were submitted, said: "I do not know when the first hearing of a work has given me such pleasure, and I look forward to its first public performance with great interest."