# Leif Segerstam



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Well id Never heard of him, but his image is impressive










Not only is he meant to be a great conductor he has a world record amount of symphonies composed:

230 Symphonies (as of August 2009) 
30 String quartets 
13 Violin concertos 
8 Cello concertos 
4 Viola concertos 
4 Piano concertos


----------



## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

He is Santa Claus. I've seen it proven on the internet somewhere 

This man is impressive. Great Sibelius cycles, as well as some controversial Mahler, recordings of his own music (of course not all of it; he'd have to record something new every day), etc.

Overall a very interesting character.


----------



## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)




----------



## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

He's an excellent conductor as WV has said. His Sibelius recordings are outstanding. I also enjoyed a recording he did of Langgaard's "Symphony No. 1."


----------



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

I realise now also that I have a few recording by him, just never attributed the name to the face 

Blomdahl Symphonies 1-3 with Swedish Radio Symphony
Reger Mozart Variation with Norrkoping Symphony
Pettersson Symphony No.8 with Norrkoping
Serocki, Sandstrom and Bloch Trumpet Concertos with Swedish Radio Symphony and Christian Lindberg


----------



## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

emiellucifuge said:


> 230 Symphonies (as of August 2009)
> 30 String quartets
> 13 Violin concertos
> 8 Cello concertos
> ...


For me, it's all about quality over quantity. I would rather him have composed 30 pieces of music and all be of high quality than 1,000. How much a composer writes doesn't impress me much.


----------



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Very True MI, I have made no remark as to the quality of his work, I havent even heard any of it.

230 is an impressive number to me however


----------



## bplary (Sep 13, 2009)

Hmmm, quite the image. Looks like a viking to me.


----------



## Mirror Image (Apr 20, 2009)

emiellucifuge said:


> Very True MI, I have made no remark as to the quality of his work, I havent even heard any of it.
> 
> 230 is an impressive number to me however


He could compose 1,000 symphonies, but for me it's quality over quantity.


----------



## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

For me too, yet i still find it impressive for someone to have written so many.


----------



## bongos (Nov 27, 2008)

Leif Segerstam will be conducting the NZ Symphony orchestra in concert Oct and Nov , the soprano will be Solveig Kringelborn 

THE Programme 

Sibelius Karelia Suite 
Segerstam symphony 191 
Wagner meistersingers Prelude
Strauss Four last songs 



Im sure I saw Leifs hairdresser in an unemployment benefit queue


----------



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Segerstam is famous for his bizarre behavior too. If you google him, you should be able to find interesting anecdotes about some of his escapades.

He's an outstanding Sibelius conductor. I am not familiar with his other interpretations of composers, but I hear they are good.


----------



## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Tapkaara said:


> Segerstam is famous for his bizarre behavior too. If you google him, you should be able to find interesting anecdotes about some of his escapades.


Not to mention there's a whole page dedicated to Segerstam quotes! They are absolutely hilarious!


----------



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Here's the link for that:

http://www.grahamnasby.com/misc/musichumour_leif-segerstam-quotations.shtml

I agree, they are priceless.


----------



## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

An energy-bomb and for several years a chief conductor of the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. However those years were not always the best of the orchestra, and he has made quite a lot of disappointing recordings, sonically often spledid, but lacking a sense of coherence and rhetoric - no true climaxes and not a lot of felt "singing" from the orchestra, which Celibidache for instance pointed out as being so important, a bit like Solti at his worst. I haven´t really heard his Mahler and Sibelius which won much recognition, but IMHO his Pettersson VIII is less gripping than Comissiona´s or Sanderling´s and his Pettersson VII poor compared to Dorati, his Nørgård III likewise much less convincing than Dausgaards, his Rott Symphony uinteresting if compared to the Arte Nova issue etc. It is hard to believe that such a huge production of compositions can be the result of really thoughtful or thorough work. That said, he has done a lot of work to promote lesser known composers and orchestras.


----------



## JAKE WYB (May 28, 2009)

I heard his recording of Sibelius 7th - the worst i have ever heard - the broad climaxes with trombones completely flat and the end lifeless

Saw him conduct in Glasgow - Sibelius 5th good but lacklustre - he conducted one of his symphonies - the only person propably - and it was short but seemed a lot longer if you get my drift - only so much crash bang wallop i can take ..


----------



## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Yes, there is "crash bang wallop" in his music. I just heard his *Symphony No. 11*(1986) yesterday on the radio here in Sydney. Some really interesting percussive effects, some wierd sounds (from what sounded a bit like a jew's harp, but I don't know) and this driving motoric energy which sounded pretty cool to me. I'm interested in maybe getting a couple of his works on cd, but not all 230 symphonies! (heck, I'm not even interested in getting all of Beethoven's symphonies, so I'm not really into collecting complete cycles, anyway). But Segerstam sounds like an interesting composer (if not the "greatest") nonethelss...


----------

