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Review The name Henning Mankell may strike a bell with some of our readers. As a Swedish author, Mankell is widely known for his Kurt Wallander novels, some of which have been filmed. This Mankell (1868-1930), the author's grandfather, will be a discovery to many of our readers since precious little of his music has been available before. Mankell worked for many years as a piano teacher and music critic. In 1917 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. As a largely self-taught composer, he is primarily a romantic, with influences on his style extending to the impressionists and beyond. All the music in this set is from his last years (1922-1930), and most of it is slow in tempo, moody, and rather sad. Sampled in small doses it can be expressive and enjoyable, unless you need some cheering up. Titles are as one would expect: `Waves', `Summer', `Evening Mood', `Tempest Mood', and `Slow Waves'. As nature portraits they are more serious than the usual salon pieces. The Fantasy-Sonatas (1,3, and 6) are made of sterner stuff and last about a quarter hour each, as does the Ballad. They are rambling, structurally diffuse edifices that make occasional use of the whole-tone scale. I found myself losing patience sometimes and longing for some striking ideas beyond warmed-over Liszt or Scriabin (no Mystery Chord). My ears did perk up when the tempo accelerated a bit. Much of this music comes across as a wellintentioned and creative improvisation--the kind that conservatory students like to do between writing fugues and other exercises. I have no doubt that Mankell had all the right intentions and notates his desires with clarity of purpose. They just fail to communicate much to me after three listening sessions. Anna Christensson sounds like she has immersed herself in this music, and it is hard to think of any other pianist bringing greater clarity to it. Notes and sound are both good. -- American Record Guide, Alan Becker, November-December 2009
The name Henning Mankell may ring a distant bell for some for it is the name of a contemporary Swedish writer whose mystery novels featuring Inspector Kurt Wallander have been translated into many languages and have a worldwide readership. But the composer Henning Mankell (1868-1930) is the writer's grandfather. And he is mostly unknown outside Sweden. He grew up in an intensely musical family and spent most of his life teaching piano and harmony as well as writing music criticism for two of the major Swedish newspapers. Late in life he had a burst of compositional activity and the works on these two discs are from the last few years of his life.As a composer Mankell was mostly self-taught. The vast majority of his compositions are for piano. His use of harmony is idiosyncratic -- always completely tonal, but growing out of the trends of late romanticism, impressionism and even early jazz. One hears echoes of Debussy and Scriabin and even occasional hints of the jazz harmonies of the likes of Gershwin. His ability to obtain striking sonorities from the piano is most like that of Debussy, but he was a romantic at heart and one senses formal borrowings from the likes of Chopin and Liszt. For instance, on the second of these two discs there are three Sonatas, called Fantasy-Sonatas, that are in one movement and have thematic and formal reminiscences of the great B Minor Sonata of Liszt. Consider then a combination of Debussyan/Scriabinesque harmonies and sonorities coupled with the free-ranging fantasy forms of Liszt; this is a vague but perhaps helpful description of the effect of these latter works.The first disc contains eleven characteristic pieces with titles like 'Valse mesto', 'Waves', 'Summer', 'Atlantis', 'Evening Mood', 'Tempest Mood', 'Barcarole' and the like. 'Valse mesto' is particularly striking in that it sounds like it could have been one of Satie's Gymnopédies. Most of the works here are quiet, contemplative, and evocative of the scenes or moods implied in their titles. 'Tempest Mood' is the only one on that first disc that rises to any degree of agitation or turmoil.Swedish pianist Anna Christensson was previously unknown to me but she is a sensitive artist whose technique easily conquers any difficulties in this music and whose sensibility seems suited to its style. She plays a beautifully regulated piano whose recorded sound is sumptuous. I had no idea what to expect from these discs, but found myself almost hypnotized by their evocativeness.These discs deserve a recommendation for those who are modestly adventuresome about hearing not-well-known piano music from the early twentieth century.Scott Morrison
