The Snowshoed Sibelius

Started by Dancing Divertimentian, April 16, 2007, 08:39:57 PM

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krummholz

Quote from: relm1 on November 20, 2021, 05:06:47 PM
I've always liked Pohjola's Daughter but part of it is just the Sibelien sound world.  From the first bar, this sounds like no other composer but him.

Ditto... probably my favourite of all of Sibelius's tone poems (Tapiola notwithstanding).

Roasted Swan

Quote from: Irons on November 21, 2021, 05:42:07 AM
I think the first incarnation of Boult's recording was on Nixa under license from Vanguard. You are right we are all guilty of putting conductors in a box and when they stray it comes as a bit of a shock - how very much dare they! :o An example on my shelves is also Sibelius and in fact Schmidt - Isserstedt turns out to be rather good.



Ah yes - when the LPO masquaraded as the Philaharmonic Promenade SO (or some such!) for contractual reasons.......

Biffo

Quote from: vandermolen on November 21, 2021, 05:35:32 AM
That's a terrific CD John. That is my favourite recording of Luonnotar and the Nielsen 5th Symphony is the icing on the cake

An excellent CD: the three Sibelius items were originally coupled with En Saga on LP and it is still one of my favourite Sibelius albums.

Roasted Swan

Quote from: Biffo on November 21, 2021, 08:10:49 AM
An excellent CD: the three Sibelius items were originally coupled with En Saga on LP and it is still one of my favourite Sibelius albums.

all included here......


Biffo

Quote from: Roasted Swan on November 21, 2021, 08:54:28 AM
all included here......



Thanks for that. When we discussed En Saga fairly recently I tried to find the Dorati performance but somehow overlooked that album.

vers la flamme

Any of the Sibelians here care to recommend me a great recording of the Lemminkäinen Suite? I have not spent much time with this work. I have the Sakari/Iceland on Naxos but am open to hearing others.

Also would love recommendations for discs of Sibelius's songs.

MusicTurner

#3126
Perhaps not an often-found recommendation, but I never get tired of Jaervi's DG Gothenburg 'Lemminkainen Suite'.

Songs are of course either choral, or solo songs with piano, or solo with orchestra.

Hynninen/Segerstam/Tampere P O in orchestral songs on Ondine is obligatory, IMHO  ;) .

Mirror Image

#3127
Quote from: vers la flamme on December 09, 2021, 03:18:30 AM
Any of the Sibelians here care to recommend me a great recording of the Lemminkäinen Suite? I have not spent much time with this work. I have the Sakari/Iceland on Naxos but am open to hearing others.

Also would love recommendations for discs of Sibelius's songs.

For this listener, this recording of the Lemminkäinen Suite reigns supreme:



As for the songs, this Decca set should fit the bill rather nicely:



Of course, if you're looking for the orchestral songs, then I heartily recommend this recording:



Then there's the Sibelius Edition sets on BIS and I won't even launch into those --- most of them are mandatory purchases for the Sibelian.

bhodges

Best news of the day: the Minnesota Orchestra's New Year's Eve gala, an all-Sibelius evening led by Osmo Vänskä (in his final season with the group), will be livestreamed on Dec. 31, at 9:30pm (EST). Looks like it's free to stream (though I'm sure they wouldn't mind a small contribution, which I intend to do).

Program is Symphonies 7 and 2, plus Herzog Magnus (never heard it!), Luonnotar (with soprano Helena Juntunen), and Autumn Evening

https://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/tickets/calendar/2122/new-years-celebration/

--Bruce

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: Brewski on December 24, 2021, 01:12:36 PM
Best news of the day: the Minnesota Orchestra's New Year's Eve gala, an all-Sibelius evening led by Osmo Vänskä (in his final season with the group), will be livestreamed on Dec. 31, at 9:30pm (EST). Looks like it's free to stream (though I'm sure they wouldn't mind a small contribution, which I intend to do).

Program is Symphonies 7 and 2, plus Herzog Magnus (never heard it!), Luonnotar (with soprano Helena Juntunen), and Autumn Evening

https://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/tickets/calendar/2122/new-years-celebration/

--Bruce

Very interesting, Brewski. Thanks for the info. I've saved the link for that day.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Mirror Image

Quote from: Brewski on December 24, 2021, 01:12:36 PM
Best news of the day: the Minnesota Orchestra's New Year's Eve gala, an all-Sibelius evening led by Osmo Vänskä (in his final season with the group), will be livestreamed on Dec. 31, at 9:30pm (EST). Looks like it's free to stream (though I'm sure they wouldn't mind a small contribution, which I intend to do).

Program is Symphonies 7 and 2, plus Herzog Magnus (never heard it!), Luonnotar (with soprano Helena Juntunen), and Autumn Evening

https://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/tickets/calendar/2122/new-years-celebration/

--Bruce

Sweet! Looks like a lovely program. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Bruce. 8)

bhodges

Quote from: Mirror Image on December 24, 2021, 04:20:22 PM
Sweet! Looks like a lovely program. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Bruce. 8)

Most welcome. The pandemic surge has torpedoed a lot of New Year's Eve plans (at least, mine) so a potentially fantastic livestream is an excellent Plan B. Plus, I admire Vänskä and the orchestra for looking beyond typical holiday fare, with a nontraditional program end to the year.

--Bruce 

Mirror Image

Quote from: Brewski on December 24, 2021, 04:55:12 PM
Most welcome. The pandemic surge has torpedoed a lot of New Year's Eve plans (at least, mine) so a potentially fantastic livestream is an excellent Plan B. Plus, I admire Vänskä and the orchestra for looking beyond typical holiday fare, with a nontraditional program end to the year.

--Bruce

Yes, indeed. There's nothing like a Sibelian New Year's!

Madiel

#3133
Hertig Magnus is one of Sibelius' songs, op.57/6, which he orchestrated.

Same with Autumn Evening. Both rather nice accompaniments to Luonnotar I would imagine.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Pohjolas Daughter

Thanks for letting us know about that Bruce!  I've added it to my calendar.  :)

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Herman

Quote from: Brian on August 30, 2021, 06:02:21 PM
I always think of a freshly fallen new snow when I hear the beginning of the Sixth.  :)

I'm a little late to this, but I aways think of a metallic blue sky.

It just so happens I once heard the Sixth as I was driving along southern California highway, but even before I never had the "snow' image.

Elgarian Redux

More than 10 years ago we had a long conversation here about the 7th symphony. I explained how difficult I found it, and Brian (on whom be blessings poured) spent a lot of time and effort providing me with a better way of listening to it. Brian, if you're around, my heartfelt thanks. For anyone interested, you can find Brian's 'outline sketch' of the symphony here:
https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,341.msg451974.html#msg451974

This morning I had 20 minutes to fill, and decided the 7th would nicely tuck into the slot. I chose the Rozhdestvensky version from his box set, and I had in the back of my mind that old discussion we had. What struck me forcibly, as I listened, was that I could not understand my earlier self. I couldn't see what the problem used to be. For most of the 20 minutes my spine was tingling and the hair on the back of my neck prickling, and yet now, years on and quite a lot of listenings later, I wasn't listening carefully for the structure that Brian had so painstakingly provided me with. I was just following the music intuitively, organically, like a bit of wood flowing along with a somewhat turbulent stream.

I found myself contemplating Alfred North Whitehead's 'process' philosophy, and his notion of 'prehension', whereby the whole universe consists of these countless prehensions, assimilating these processes into its creative advance. Here was I, involved in my own little 20 minutes of the universe's prehensive advance, and Sibelius's 7th seemed to be running alongside me as a kind of symbolic parallel, simultaneously being prehended, while providing a symbol of that very process. Written down like this I can see that it makes no sense, and maybe indicates that I wasn't really listening to the music. But it made a lot of sense at the time, and I really was listening, I promise.

Whether this is nonsense or not, I just wanted to let Brian know how enormously successful his efforts had been - so much so that I no longer think of the 7th as a puzzle to be solved, but rather as an enriching process to be lived through repeatedly, or an adventure to be enjoyed. I don't think I could have reached this point on my own.

Mirror Image

#3137
Quote from: Elgarian Redux on December 29, 2021, 12:58:24 PM
More than 10 years ago we had a long conversation here about the 7th symphony. I explained how difficult I found it, and Brian (on whom be blessings poured) spent a lot of time and effort providing me with a better way of listening to it. Brian, if you're around, my heartfelt thanks. For anyone interested, you can find Brian's 'outline sketch' of the symphony here:
https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,341.msg451974.html#msg451974

This morning I had 20 minutes to fill, and decided the 7th would nicely tuck into the slot. I chose the Rozhdestvensky version from his box set, and I had in the back of my mind that old discussion we had. What struck me forcibly, as I listened, was that I could not understand my earlier self. I couldn't see what the problem used to be. For most of the 20 minutes my spine was tingling and the hair on the back of my neck prickling, and yet now, years on and quite a lot of listenings later, I wasn't listening carefully for the structure that Brian had so painstakingly provided me with. I was just following the music intuitively, organically, like a bit of wood flowing along with a somewhat turbulent stream.

I found myself contemplating Alfred North Whitehead's 'process' philosophy, and his notion of 'prehension', whereby the whole universe consists of these countless prehensions, assimilating these processes into its creative advance. Here was I, involved in my own little 20 minutes of the universe's prehensive advance, and Sibelius's 7th seemed to be running alongside me as a kind of symbolic parallel, simultaneously being prehended, while providing a symbol of that very process. Written down like this I can see that it makes no sense, and maybe indicates that I wasn't really listening to the music. But it made a lot of sense at the time, and I really was listening, I promise.

Whether this is nonsense or not, I just wanted to let Brian know how enormously successful his efforts had been - so much so that I no longer think of the 7th as a puzzle to be solved, but rather as an enriching process to be lived through repeatedly, or an adventure to be enjoyed. I don't think I could have reached this point on my own.

Quite interesting. I found the 7th one of his easier symphonies to decipher and figure out. The ones that gave me some problems were the 4th and 6th. But, nowadays, I love all of his symphonies. They are all so different from the other, but one thing that is unmistakable is the composer's voice. The last string of works Symphony No. 7, The Tempest and Tapiola are magnificent creations and all masterpieces. These works would be difficult acts to follow even though Sibelius' health problems (drinking problem and a horrible tremor that affected his writing) basically forced him to stop composing, although he didn't completely stop, but there wasn't much after the three afore mentioned works. Anyway, I'm glad you connect with the 7th now. Do give the Barbriolli on Warner (EMI) performance a listen! Also, Berglund/Bournemouth and Vänskä/Lahti SO.

Madiel

Quote from: Elgarian Redux on December 29, 2021, 12:58:24 PM
More than 10 years ago we had a long conversation here about the 7th symphony. I explained how difficult I found it, and Brian (on whom be blessings poured) spent a lot of time and effort providing me with a better way of listening to it. Brian, if you're around, my heartfelt thanks. For anyone interested, you can find Brian's 'outline sketch' of the symphony here:
https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,341.msg451974.html#msg451974

This morning I had 20 minutes to fill, and decided the 7th would nicely tuck into the slot. I chose the Rozhdestvensky version from his box set, and I had in the back of my mind that old discussion we had. What struck me forcibly, as I listened, was that I could not understand my earlier self. I couldn't see what the problem used to be. For most of the 20 minutes my spine was tingling and the hair on the back of my neck prickling, and yet now, years on and quite a lot of listenings later, I wasn't listening carefully for the structure that Brian had so painstakingly provided me with. I was just following the music intuitively, organically, like a bit of wood flowing along with a somewhat turbulent stream.

I found myself contemplating Alfred North Whitehead's 'process' philosophy, and his notion of 'prehension', whereby the whole universe consists of these countless prehensions, assimilating these processes into its creative advance. Here was I, involved in my own little 20 minutes of the universe's prehensive advance, and Sibelius's 7th seemed to be running alongside me as a kind of symbolic parallel, simultaneously being prehended, while providing a symbol of that very process. Written down like this I can see that it makes no sense, and maybe indicates that I wasn't really listening to the music. But it made a lot of sense at the time, and I really was listening, I promise.

Whether this is nonsense or not, I just wanted to let Brian know how enormously successful his efforts had been - so much so that I no longer think of the 7th as a puzzle to be solved, but rather as an enriching process to be lived through repeatedly, or an adventure to be enjoyed. I don't think I could have reached this point on my own.

This is not nonsense at all.

I actually love the process of unlocking music like this. I think most of the more rewarding music changes for us over time.
I am now working on a discography of the works of Vagn Holmboe. Please visit and also contribute!

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Brewski on December 24, 2021, 04:55:12 PM
Most welcome. The pandemic surge has torpedoed a lot of New Year's Eve plans (at least, mine) so a potentially fantastic livestream is an excellent Plan B. Plus, I admire Vänskä and the orchestra for looking beyond typical holiday fare, with a nontraditional program end to the year.

--Bruce
Just to let you folks know, the concert is still being streamed on the Minnesota Orchestra's website (or whatever that link was that Bruce had provided).  I confess, that I fell asleep before the concert and checked my computer this morning and it was still on there.  I also told a friend about it and double-checked with him and he is also able to access it.  I suspect that it might be accessible for at least 24 hours but no idea.

And Happy New Year (again)!

PD
Pohjolas Daughter