Symphony No. 9 (Pettersson)

The symphony is his last composition preceding a nine-month stay in Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm (starting September 1970);^[1][2] Pettersson composed the symphony in less than half a year.^[3]

It is Pettersson's longest symphony with a duration of ca. 70–85 minutes (score: 65–70 minutes).^[4][a] There is one movement, though it divides into a number of smaller sections that follow each other with at most a nominal pause, but usually none.^[5][b][c]

Much though not all of the material in the symphony is based on the ascending (and later descending) chromatic^[6] scale motif heard at the very beginning, played by bassoons, violas and cellos.^[5] Additional material is a repeated-note figure.^[6] Pettersson juxtaposes innocent, diatonic melodies with passages of great contrapuntal ferocity.^[6] There are sections of tango and canon and also a quotation of Song No. 10 "Jungfrun och Ljugarpust" (The Maiden and the Lying Wind) from his Barefoot Songs.^[3] The Ninth can be described as an extended struggle in which harmony is the ultimate winner.^[3] The concluding bars of the symphony^[d] consist of a long final melody (in Peter Ruzicka's terms: a "Canto") played by violins and cellos and later by the violas in unison, and ends in a slow peaceful plagal cadence^[6] into F major.^[3][5]

Paul Rapoport uses adjectives like vast, nightmarish and delirious to characterize the symphony.^[6] The symphony is a natural, organic unity and demanding for musicians and listeners.^[3]

Pettersson dedicated the symphony to Sergiu Comissiona and the Gothenburg Symphony, who premiered it on 18 February 1971^[5][6] and had commissioned it for the 350th Anniversary of the Founding of the City of Gothenburg.^[5] It was played again in December 1974, and the first Stockholm performances were given on 25 and 26 May 1976.^[6] Comissiona described later the Ninth as "Jupiter" among Pettersson's symphonies.^[7]

The miniature score was published in 1989 by Nordiska Musikforlaget of Stockholm and runs to 385 pages and 2146 bars.^[4][3]

• Sergiu Comissiona, conductor, Gothenburg Symphony; on Philips 2-LP set 6767 951, 1978. OCLC 604049544
• Alun Francis, conductor, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; on cpo 999 231–2, 1994. OCLC 1011485081
• Christian Lindberg, conductor, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra; on BIS 2038, 2013. OCLC 883802421