The Snowshoed Sibelius

[Karl Henning]

If I could have only one I think I'd also choose this one.

You guys!

Wish-listed . . . .

[Brian]

I've heard the ending of the 5th taken in different tempos. The brief final build up leading to the separated 'button' chords is marked un pochettino stretto in the score.

Segerstam is more like stretto muchissimo... but then, I prefer no speed-up at all, which I s'pose is inaccurate.

Good call, Brian. I don't recall liking Segerstam's 5th too much nor do I care much for his 6th. My favorite 5th is a toss-up between Vanska/Lahti and Bernstein/NY Phil. My favorite 6th is Vanska/Lahti. Since the 5th is so popular and seems to be ingrained into so many classical listeners' minds, this symphony is quite possibly the most critiqued of the seven. I need to spend more time with the 5th myself. I always seem to flock to the 4th, 6th, and 7th.

For me it's not so much the popularity - I believe the 2nd roundly beats it - as the combination of (a) a huge emotional charge, and (b) being very difficult to bring off. The emotional charge is very strongly positive, so I at least partly judge a Sib 5 recording on the "high" it induces. Nobody gets high off the Fourth!

I agree with you, for what it's worth: Bernstein/NY Phil is my "dream" performance, with Vanska not far behind. Blomstedt is around there too, and weirdly enough Sakari delivers the goods, but I don't return to Davis/BSO, Segerstam, Berglunds, Oramo, Barbirolli, Gibson, Celibidache, or Inkinen, for a variety of reasons, mostly ridiculous nit-picks. Can't remember my impressions of Maazel/Pitts or Ashkenazy.

[Karl Henning]

. . . but then, I prefer no speed-up at all, which I s'pose is inaccurate.

Un poco stretto sounds moderating on its own; in un pochettino stretto, the poco is diminished by two degrees (poco - pochetto - pochettino), so the composer seems to be stressing a minimal effect.

[TheGSMoeller]

Segerstam is more like stretto muchissimo... but then, I prefer no speed-up at all, which I s'pose is inaccurate.For me it's not so much the popularity - I believe the 2nd roundly beats it - as the combination of (a) a huge emotional charge, and (b) being very difficult to bring off. The emotional charge is very strongly positive, so I at least partly judge a Sib 5 recording on the "high" it induces. Nobody gets high off the Fourth!

I agree with you, for what it's worth: Bernstein/NY Phil is my "dream" performance, with Vanska not far behind. Blomstedt is around there too, and weirdly enough Sakari delivers the goods, but I don't return to Davis/BSO, Segerstam, Berglunds, Oramo, Barbirolli, Gibson, Celibidache, or Inkinen, for a variety of reasons, mostly ridiculous nit-picks. Can't remember my impressions of Maazel/Pitts or Ashkenazy.

Blomstedt is solid from 1 - 7, I still love that set, even if his interpretations are bland at times compared to others, he never distracts the focus from the music, and it helps he has the amazing timbre of the SFS.

Ashkenazy is a bit cold for me, although I think it helps with his 3rd and 6th recordings, which are quite intense, mainly the speedy finale of the 6th.

And the 4th's dour is why gets me high. 

[jlaurson]

Un poco stretto sounds moderating on its own; in un pochettino stretto, the poco is diminished by two degrees (poco - pochetto - pochettino), so the composer seems to be stressing a minimal effect.

That's because "un pochetto stretto" just sounds silly. 

Is "muchissimo" Itaenglian or Spanitalian?

Ashkenazy's contributions to the Christopher Nupen Sibelius biography, btw., are also outstanding.
Cried several times during those two films, I'm not ashamed to admit.

(And what a nice guy that C.Nupen is, btw..)


C. Nupen
Two Films about Sibelius
Early Years
Maturity & Silence
w/V.Ashkenazy & Swedish RSO
C.Nupen Films
German link - UK link

[Karl Henning]

That's because "un pochetto stretto" just sounds silly. 

Oh, yeah? Try strettino ; )

[mahler10th]

Ashkenazy's contributions to the Christopher Nupen Sibelius biography, btw., are also outstanding.


C. Nupen
Two Films about Sibelius
Early Years
Maturity & Silence
w/V.Ashkenazy & Swedish RSO
C.Nupen Films
German link - UK link

For anyone interested, thes films were made at the time of Ashkenazys recording of his first Sibelius cycle with the Philharmonia, circa 1984ish, altough the featured Orchestra is the SRSO.  I too highly recommend these to anyone finding out / exploring Sibelius.  Great post.  In fact, I'm inspired to watch again for the first time in about 3 years...

[Karl Henning]

They do look like tasty films!

[jlaurson]

Appreciation of Sir Colin Davis through a selection of recordings:

"To pick a dozen recordings from Sir Colin Davis' discography that do his life, work, and art justice is either terribly easy (because there are so many) or terribly difficult (because twelve are so few)..."

In Memoriam: Hearing Sir Colin Davis (1927 - 2013)



http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2013/04/in-memoriam-hearing-sir-colin-davis.html

[Mirror Image]

C. Nupen
Two Films about Sibelius
Early Years
Maturity & Silence
w/V.Ashkenazy & Swedish RSO
C.Nupen Films
German link - UK link

That's quite a good documentary. One of the film's biggest flaws is not the discussion of Symphony No. 6, which, for me, is one of Sibelius' best.

[Mirror Image]

it would be longer certainly, maybe better... but it's not a flaw, as far as i'm concerned, since the films are so good to begin with. there could always be more in most cases...

totally agree about the sixth symphony, though:

Perhaps flaw wasn't the right word but I just thought the way the film skipped right over the 6th in favor of the 7th was odd. The film was great though and I plan on revisiting it again at some point since my inner Sibelian has come to the fore. I own more symphonic cycles by Sibelius than any other composer. I really hope Vanska completes his Minnesota cycle. I'm one of those people that are in favor of Vanska making another Sibelius cycle. Hurwitz didn't think he needed to but it's 'okay' for Colin Davis or Berglund to record three of them. Sorry, but I prefer Vanska in Sibelius to Colin Davis.

[Brian]

Perhaps flaw wasn't the right word but I just thought the way the film skipped right over the 6th in favor of the 7th was odd. The film was great though and I plan on revisiting it again at some point since my inner Sibelian has come to the fore. I own more symphonic cycles by Sibelius than any other composer. I really hope Vanska completes his Minnesota cycle. I'm one of those people that are in favor of Vanska making another Sibelius cycle. Hurwitz didn't think he needed to but it's 'okay' for Colin Davis or Berglund to record three of them. Sorry, but I prefer Vanska in Sibelius to Colin Davis.

Actually, Hurwitz never said it was okay for Colin Davis to record multiple cycles - Davis/RCA is his least-favorite cycle ever.

I listened to the new Vanska First and Fifth yesterday; found the First interesting in a "connoisseur appreciating an unusual reading" kind of way, but the Fifth totally disposable.

[Mirror Image]

Well, regardless of the naysayers, I'm onboard for Vanksa's Minnesota cycle. He's truly one our finest living Sibelians.

[DavidRoss]

I listened to the new Vanska First and Fifth yesterday; found the First interesting in a "connoisseur appreciating an unusual reading" kind of way, but the Fifth totally disposable.

You mean 1st & 4th, don't you? This issue probably falls into the "hear before purchasing" class for me; it's certainly not something I need, and without hearing it thoughtfully there's no way to tell whether it's something I want. Their 2nd & 5th were good -- the 2nd especially -- but I need more Sibelius recordings like I need a hysterectomy.

[Karl Henning]

Remind me how many cycles you've got, Dave? You know I ask with all respect : )

[DavidRoss]

Remind me how many cycles you've got, Dave? You know I ask with all respect : )

Gosh, I'm not sure, Karl.  17, per my CD catalog, plus lots of single issues of my favorites (numbers 1 through 7 ).

[Brian]

You mean 1st & 4th, don't you? This issue probably falls into the "hear before purchasing" class for me; it's certainly not something I need, and without hearing it thoughtfully there's no way to tell whether it's something I want. Their 2nd & 5th were good -- the 2nd especially -- but I need more Sibelius recordings like I need a hysterectomy.

Not at all, friend - I was on Naxos Music Library and jumped discs. 1 and 5 it was.

[DavidRoss]

Not at all, friend - I was on Naxos Music Library and jumped discs. 1 and 5 it was.

Ahh ... I see. Thought you were referring to the new disc coupling 1 & 4. Have you heard the new 4 yet? (Guess a visit to the Naxos site is on my agenda!)

Re. last years coupling of 2 & 5, I thought the Minnesota 2nd was among the best on record (offered a capsule review somewhere on this site, IIRC), but their 5th was just another very competent, well-played, fairly conventional performance like a dozen or more others.

[vandermolen]

Looks like a great historical release. I don't think that I have heard the Stokowski recording before:
[asin]B00B5UBEMW[/asin]

[DavidRoss]

I recently had the opportunity to audition Vänskä's new 1st & 4th with Minnesota. Way different from his previous outing with Lahti! Whereas those recordings were restrained and relatively austere -- cool -- these are romantically interventionist, not just warm but hot -- much like the 2nd in V/M's previous Sibelius pairing. In both cases the vision presented is sufficiently strange that it may take a few hearings for me to come to grips with it.

The 1st is fast instead of mysterious and the 4th is blythe instead of bleak. It uses the dreaded glockenspiel instead of glocken, which is one of my biggest peeves with Sibelius performances. He wrote glocken in the score, he conducted the premiere performance with glocken, and I'm utterly baffled how anyone with any sensitivity to this music could possibly think that a tinkly little glockenspiel's character is appropriate. And the ending sounds almost blythe and inconsequential instead of tapering off into bleak, unresolved mystery. 

Yet the orchestra sounds great and the recording seems up to BIS's usual high quality, and my respect for Vänskä's Sibelius credentials commands open-minded attentiveness ... and though both performances seem a bit weird at first, they are consistent with his "new" vision and not at all wayward or willful, and I suspect I might end up liking them very much.