Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Norrköping Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leif Segerstam.
I - Beginning (0:00)- 6 Measures after No.25 (8:39) - 1 Measure before No.49 (17:20) - 2 Measures before No.63 (21:43) - 1 Measure before No.81 (29:40)
Pettersson's Symphony No.15 was composed in 1978, being commissioned by the Swedish Television Channel TV2. It was premiered in Stockholm on November 19 of 1982, performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sergiu Comissiona, being broadcasted both by radio and television. Unfortunately the composer didn't live enough to hear the piece, as he died of cancer in June 1980. The concert was dedicated to the premiere of his then posthumous completed works. As with most of Pettersson's symphonies, it is structured in a more concise single movement that maintains the composer's characteristic blending of violence and lyricism.
Symphony No. 15 is characterized by a high degree of tension right from the start. It has what is perhaps the most striking introduction of all Pettersson’s symphonies. Brief, emphatic chords from the horns and trombones are heard with an interval of one and a half bars above the tremolo of a side drum. The chords recur, not least in the latter parts of the symphony. As early as the sixth bar there is an expressive melodic subject in the first violins followed by contrasting rapid scales. At this point, Pettersson has presented the greater part of the symphony’s building blocks. The symphony is in one movement, but it has clearly defined sections in which certain parts differ strikingly from what has gone before, as at bar 137, in which the listener, for a short period, has the opportunity to relax in the music. Solo viola and solo violins hover at a very high tessitura above chords in the winds and dreamy pizzicato triplets in cello and bass.
It can be difficult for the listener to navigate through the Fifteenth Symphony in terms of both rhythm and tonality, a characteristic it shares with several of Pettersson’s symphonies from the 1970s. But in the calmer parts the composer often provides firmer ground, a centre of tonality to which we can relate the melodies and chords that we hear. Roughly a third of the way into the work there is a calmer passage, marked cantando, which is lyrical with extended legato lines. It is only at the end of this intense symphony does the calm mood return. Here, at bar 629, Pettersson lets the violins "sing" in an expressive broken C major chord which introduces a chorale-like section. From this point onwards the music gravitates towards C. True, the tonality immediately drifts off but again it finds its way back to C minor and C major. In this section the music is clearly more homophonic and the percussion players, who have been busy throughout the symphony, are able to rest.
Pettersson again lets the percussion join in as the unease returns. At this point the central subjects from the introduction to the work reappear, though now in a different orchestration and with a different tonal character (C has etched itself into the score). This final section therefore seems more like a sort of coda than a recapitulation. The composer has built up our expectations that the music will resolve into a final chord of C. But when we ultimately arrive at this (albeit with a seventh interval that remains an irritant) it is replaced by a chord of F sharp major – tonally as distant from C as one can get. Pettersson did not want to let his listeners find the expected and satisfactory resolution. Perhaps he is telling us that the music has not come to an end; that it has merely paused.
Picture: "Those Left Behind" (1950) by the Danish artist Asger Jorn.
Sources: tinyurl.com/2arrw4gf and tinyurl.com/24knlyff
To check the score: bit.ly/3ACNzBE
Norrköping Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leif Segerstam.
I - Beginning (0:00)- 6 Measures after No.25 (8:39) - 1 Measure before No.49 (17:20) - 2 Measures before No.63 (21:43) - 1 Measure before No.81 (29:40)
Pettersson's Symphony No.15 was composed in 1978, being commissioned by the Swedish Television Channel TV2. It was premiered in Stockholm on November 19 of 1982, performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sergiu Comissiona, being broadcasted both by radio and television. Unfortunately the composer didn't live enough to hear the piece, as he died of cancer in June 1980. The concert was dedicated to the premiere of his then posthumous completed works. As with most of Pettersson's symphonies, it is structured in a more concise single movement that maintains the composer's characteristic blending of violence and lyricism.
Symphony No. 15 is characterized by a high degree of tension right from the start. It has what is perhaps the most striking introduction of all Pettersson’s symphonies. Brief, emphatic chords from the horns and trombones are heard with an interval of one and a half bars above the tremolo of a side drum. The chords recur, not least in the latter parts of the symphony. As early as the sixth bar there is an expressive melodic subject in the first violins followed by contrasting rapid scales. At this point, Pettersson has presented the greater part of the symphony’s building blocks. The symphony is in one movement, but it has clearly defined sections in which certain parts differ strikingly from what has gone before, as at bar 137, in which the listener, for a short period, has the opportunity to relax in the music. Solo viola and solo violins hover at a very high tessitura above chords in the winds and dreamy pizzicato triplets in cello and bass.
It can be difficult for the listener to navigate through the Fifteenth Symphony in terms of both rhythm and tonality, a characteristic it shares with several of Pettersson’s symphonies from the 1970s. But in the calmer parts the composer often provides firmer ground, a centre of tonality to which we can relate the melodies and chords that we hear. Roughly a third of the way into the work there is a calmer passage, marked cantando, which is lyrical with extended legato lines. It is only at the end of this intense symphony does the calm mood return. Here, at bar 629, Pettersson lets the violins "sing" in an expressive broken C major chord which introduces a chorale-like section. From this point onwards the music gravitates towards C. True, the tonality immediately drifts off but again it finds its way back to C minor and C major. In this section the music is clearly more homophonic and the percussion players, who have been busy throughout the symphony, are able to rest.
Pettersson again lets the percussion join in as the unease returns. At this point the central subjects from the introduction to the work reappear, though now in a different orchestration and with a different tonal character (C has etched itself into the score). This final section therefore seems more like a sort of coda than a recapitulation. The composer has built up our expectations that the music will resolve into a final chord of C. But when we ultimately arrive at this (albeit with a seventh interval that remains an irritant) it is replaced by a chord of F sharp major – tonally as distant from C as one can get. Pettersson did not want to let his listeners find the expected and satisfactory resolution. Perhaps he is telling us that the music has not come to an end; that it has merely paused.
Picture: "Those Left Behind" (1950) by the Danish artist Asger Jorn.
Sources: tinyurl.com/2arrw4gf and tinyurl.com/24knlyff
To check the score: bit.ly/3ACNzBE
