Andree - Fritiof-Svit: Symphony No. 1 In C Major [CD]

Swedes are proud of Elfrida Andree. She was the first woman that conquered the position of cathedral organist. Even reactionaries that were appalled at having a woman playing from the gallery capitulated at hearing her skill. Critics that reviewed her compositions found positive words for her - even for her first symphony, premiered in 1869, which the composer later disparaged as an "early work". The Fritiof Suite, on the other hand, was an unqualified success. In 1909, Elfrida Andree made a suite of five movements based on her (only) opera Fritiof Saga. Unlike the staged work of 1898, these 'scenes' were once very popular - a fantastic piece of incidental music for the Fritiof epic by the poet Esaias Tegner, which practically every child in Sweden knew.