The Snowshoed Sibelius

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I'm a hardcore Sibelian but I really don't have favorite recording of VC, since I have never been that selective with recordings. As long as they don't completely f*ck it up, I'm usually satisfied.

But I think this is a pretty good one:

[Mirror Image]

Kavakos is, in my opinion, unsurpassed so far. It's his concerto and he inhabits its sound world perfectly. Reserve and abandon, fierceness and tenderness in striking combination. I saw him performing it live with the BPO recently and he was even more astonishing. He clearly knows the work inside out and has honed his interpretation to perfection, a fire that burns like ice. Don't miss this year's BPO Europakonzert when it makes it on DVD/BD and don't miss any chance you get to hear him in concert.

I like the Kavakos performance with Vanska, but I don't like the recorded sound, which is why I deleted it from my initial list. He's placed way too far back in the mix while the orchestra is brought way too forward. It's not an ideal balance to my ears.

[Mirror Image]

I'm a hardcore Sibelian but I really don't have favorite recording of VC, since I have never been that selective with recordings. As long as they don't completely f*ck it up, I'm usually satisfied.

But I think this is a pretty good one:

Haven't heard of this one before, but it has Kamu on the podium, so this should mean something, right? I'll look for this recording. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Alberich.

[Sergeant Rock]

I like the Kavakos performance with Vanska, but I don't like the recorded sound, which is why I deleted it from my initial list. He's placed way too far back in the mix while the orchestra is brought way too forward. It's not an ideal balance to my ears.

Sounds like my kind concerto recording. Haven't heard it in years but I'll make a point to listen to it soon.

Sarge

[North Star]

Sounds like my kind concerto recording.

Sarge

+1, especially the Sibelius VC works well when the soloist isn't unnaturally forward in the mix.

[Mirror Image]

Sounds like my kind concerto recording. Haven't heard it in years but I'll make a point to listen to it soon.

Sarge

So you prefer the orchestra itself drowning out the violin? Defeats the purpose of a concerto IMHO.

[Karl Henning]

Not at all! Karl will still like Sibelius next week!

Hah!

[Sergeant Rock]

So you prefer the orchestra itself drowning out the violin?

No, I prefer a realistic, concert hall balance with the soloist integrated not spotlit or jumbo-sized.

Sarge

[Mirror Image]

No, I prefer a realistic, concert hall balance with the soloist integrated not spotlit or jumbo-sized.

Sarge

I do, too, which is why I spoke negatively about the audio quality on the Kavakos/Vanska recording. Kavakos is just buried in the mix while the orchestra in the crescendo passages leaves him in the dust sonically speaking. That's not an ideal balance IMHO.

[Mirror Image]

Lemminkäinen Suite



The Lemminkäinen Suite (also called the Four Legends, or Four Legends from the Kalevala) is a work written by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius in the early 1890s which forms his opus 22. Originally conceived as a mythological opera, Veneen luominen (The Building of the Boat), on a scale matching those by Richard Wagner, Sibelius later changed his musical goals and the work became an orchestral piece in four movements. The suite is based on the character Lemminkäinen from the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. The piece can also be considered a collection of symphonic poems. The second/third section, The Swan of Tuonela, is often heard separately (the work's inner movements are often reversed as their order is a subject of disagreement among scholars).

Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of the Island: this is based on Runo 29 ("Conquests") of the Kalevala, where Lemminkäinen travels to an island and seduces many of the women there, before fleeing the rage of the men on the island.

The Swan of Tuonela: this is the most popular of the four tone poems and often is featured alone from the suite in orchestral programs. It has a prominent cor anglais solo. The music paints a gossamer, transcendental image of a mystical swan swimming around Tuonela, the island of the dead. Lemminkäinen has been tasked with killing the sacred swan, but on the way he is shot with a poisoned arrow, and dies himself.

Lemminkäinen in Tuonela: this is based on Runos 14 ("Elk, horse, swan") and 15 ("Resurrection"). Lemminkäinen is in Tuonela, the land of the dead, to shoot the Swan of Tuonela to be able to claim the daughter of Louhi, mistress of the Northland, in marriage. However, the blind man of the Northland kills Lemminkäinen, whose body is then tossed in the river and then dismembered. Lemminkäinen's mother learns of his death, travels to Tuonela, recovers his body parts, reassembles him and restores him to life.

Lemminkäinen's Return: the storyline in the score roughly parallels the end of Runo 30 ("Jack Frost"), where after his adventures in battle, Lemminkäinen journeys home.

The above order of the movements matches their numbering within opus 22. However, Sibelius revised the order in 1947, transposing the middle two movements, which is the order in which most concert performances are played.

The suite is scored for two flutes (one doubling on the piccolo), two oboes (one doubling on the cor anglais), two clarinets (in B) (one doubling on bass clarinet), two basoons, four horns (in E and F), three trumpets (in E and F), three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, bass drum, cymbals, tambourine, harp, and strings.

[Article taken from Wikipedia]

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I just wanted to post something of an enthusiastic post about this work. What is everyone's favorite performance? I seem to prefer Segerstam, but I really like the new Lintu/Finnish RSO recording on Ondine, which has an almost Boulezian clarity and sharpness to it. Segerstam's approach is bit more Celibidache-like but with a majestic sweep and a thought-provoking Swan of Tuenola movement that often sends chills down my spine.

Link to the Segerstam performance:

[asin]B00000378L[/asin]

[Madiel]

Well, I only have one performance - the Vanska one you just bought.

And I'm very happy with it.

I do have another Swan of Tuonela somewhere on a Naxos compilation, but that's it.

[Mirror Image]

Well, I only have one performance - the Vanska one you just bought.

And I'm very happy with it.

I do have another Swan of Tuonela somewhere on a Naxos compilation, but that's it.

The Vanska is an excellent performance, but I still can't shake Segerstam from my memory. Colossal performance.

[Mirror Image]

Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 63



Op. 63 Symphony no. 4 in A minor
1. Tempo molto moderato, quasi adagio, 2. Allegro molto vivace, 3. Il tempo largo, 4. Allegro. Completed in 1911; first performance in Helsinki on 3rd April 1911 (Orchestra of Helsinki Philharmonic Society under Jean Sibelius).

The fourth symphony was once considered to be the strangest of Sibelius's symphonies, but today it is regarded as one of the peaks of his output. It has a density of expression, a chamber music-like transparency and a mastery of counterpoint that make it one of the most impressive manifestations of modernity from the period when it was written.

Sibelius had thoughts of a change of style while he was in Berlin in 1909. These ideas were still in his mind when he joined the artist Eero Järnefelt for a trip to Koli, the emblematic "Finnish mountain" in Karelia, close to Joensuu. The landscape of Koli was for Järnefelt an endless source of inspiration, and Sibelius said that he was going to listen to the "sighing of the winds and the roar of the storms". Indeed, the composer regarded his visit to Koli as one of the greatest experiences of his life. "Plans. La Montagne," he wrote in his diary on 27th September 1909.

The following year Sibelius was again travelling in Karelia, in Vyborg and Imatra, now acting as a guide to his friend and sponsor Rosa Newmarch. Newmarch later recollected how Sibelius eagerly strained his ears to hear the pedal points in the roar of Imatra's famous rapids and in other natural sounds.

The trip also had other objectives. On his return Sibelius wanted to develop his skills in counterpoint, since, as he put it, "the harmony is largely dependent on the purely musical patterning, its polyphony." His observations contained many ideas on the need for harmonic continuity. Since the orchestra lacked the pedal of the piano, Sibelius wanted to compensate for this with even more skilful orchestration.

Yet one more natural phenomenon – a storm in the south-eastern archipelago – was needed to get the symphonic work started. In addition, in November 1910 he was preparing the symphony at the same time as he was working on music for Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, which he had promised to Aino Ackté. The Raven was never finished, but its atmosphere and sketches had an effect on the fourth symphony.

The symphony was performed for the first time on 3rd April 1911, in Helsinki. Its tone was both modern and introspective, and it confused the audience so much that the applause was subdued. "Evasive glances, shakes of the head, embarrassed or secretly ironic smiles. Not many came to the dressing room to deliver their congratulations," Aino Sibelius recollected later. The critics, too, were at a loss. "Everything was so strange," was how Heikki Klemetti described the atmosphere. In the years that followed audiences in many parts of the world reacted the same way.

However, Sibelius remained happy with the symphony and after the first public performance he prepared it for publication. Nowadays, the fourth symphony has come to be recognised as one of the great masterpieces of the 20th century and one of Sibelius's most magnificent achievements. It was, after all, contemporary music of the utmost modernity, a work from which all traces of aesthetisation or artificiality had been eliminated.

A kind of motto for the work is the augmented fourth, or tritone, which creates tension in all the four movements of the symphony. The atmosphere of the work varies from joyfulness to austere expressionism. Every movement fades into silence. We are as far as we could be from the triumphant finales of the second and third symphonies.

Indeed, the fourth symphony often seems to shock listeners, and analysis of the work can turn into philosophising. It is as if Sibelius were directly penetrating the merciless core of life, laying it bare without offering any kind of false consolation. He himself had felt close to death a few years earlier, when a tumour had been removed from his throat in an operation.


[Article taken from Sibelius.fi]


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Quite simply a masterpiece (of many) for Sibelius. The brooding, ominous clouds create an overcast in this enigmatic symphony. I remember the first time I heard it (Colin Davis/BSO) and I thought to myself "Okay, what the heck is this supposed to be or what is it trying to convey? Why is this music so gloomy?" It took me some time to fully appreciate the work. I think my 'breakthrough' with the work was HvK's excellent account (w/ the Berliners) on Deutsche Grammophon. From that time forward, it just started really sinking in for me. Of course, I now have many favorites besides HvK: Segerstam/Helsinki, Vanska/Lahti, Berglund/Helsinki, etc.


Please discuss your favorite performances and why this symphony is so enjoyable for you.

[Florestan]

Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 63



Op. 63 Symphony no. 4 in A minor
1. Tempo molto moderato, quasi adagio, 2. Allegro molto vivace, 3. Il tempo largo, 4. Allegro. Completed in 1911; first performance in Helsinki on 3rd April 1911 (Orchestra of Helsinki Philharmonic Society under Jean Sibelius).

The fourth symphony was once considered to be the strangest of Sibelius's symphonies, but today it is regarded as one of the peaks of his output. It has a density of expression, a chamber music-like transparency and a mastery of counterpoint that make it one of the most impressive manifestations of modernity from the period when it was written.

Sibelius had thoughts of a change of style while he was in Berlin in 1909. These ideas were still in his mind when he joined the artist Eero Järnefelt for a trip to Koli, the emblematic "Finnish mountain" in Karelia, close to Joensuu. The landscape of Koli was for Järnefelt an endless source of inspiration, and Sibelius said that he was going to listen to the "sighing of the winds and the roar of the storms". Indeed, the composer regarded his visit to Koli as one of the greatest experiences of his life. "Plans. La Montagne," he wrote in his diary on 27th September 1909.

The following year Sibelius was again travelling in Karelia, in Vyborg and Imatra, now acting as a guide to his friend and sponsor Rosa Newmarch. Newmarch later recollected how Sibelius eagerly strained his ears to hear the pedal points in the roar of Imatra's famous rapids and in other natural sounds.

The trip also had other objectives. On his return Sibelius wanted to develop his skills in counterpoint, since, as he put it, "the harmony is largely dependent on the purely musical patterning, its polyphony." His observations contained many ideas on the need for harmonic continuity. Since the orchestra lacked the pedal of the piano, Sibelius wanted to compensate for this with even more skilful orchestration.

Yet one more natural phenomenon – a storm in the south-eastern archipelago – was needed to get the symphonic work started. In addition, in November 1910 he was preparing the symphony at the same time as he was working on music for Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, which he had promised to Aino Ackté. The Raven was never finished, but its atmosphere and sketches had an effect on the fourth symphony.

The symphony was performed for the first time on 3rd April 1911, in Helsinki. Its tone was both modern and introspective, and it confused the audience so much that the applause was subdued. "Evasive glances, shakes of the head, embarrassed or secretly ironic smiles. Not many came to the dressing room to deliver their congratulations," Aino Sibelius recollected later. The critics, too, were at a loss. "Everything was so strange," was how Heikki Klemetti described the atmosphere. In the years that followed audiences in many parts of the world reacted the same way.

However, Sibelius remained happy with the symphony and after the first public performance he prepared it for publication. Nowadays, the fourth symphony has come to be recognised as one of the great masterpieces of the 20th century and one of Sibelius's most magnificent achievements. It was, after all, contemporary music of the utmost modernity, a work from which all traces of aesthetisation or artificiality had been eliminated.

A kind of motto for the work is the augmented fourth, or tritone, which creates tension in all the four movements of the symphony. The atmosphere of the work varies from joyfulness to austere expressionism. Every movement fades into silence. We are as far as we could be from the triumphant finales of the second and third symphonies.

Indeed, the fourth symphony often seems to shock listeners, and analysis of the work can turn into philosophising. It is as if Sibelius were directly penetrating the merciless core of life, laying it bare without offering any kind of false consolation. He himself had felt close to death a few years earlier, when a tumour had been removed from his throat in an operation.


[Article taken from Sibelius.fi]

James would be proud of your copy-paste skills... 

[Mirror Image]

James would be proud of your copy-paste skills... 

At least, I add my own comments at the end of these articles. He just posted pictures and commentary from someone else with none of his own.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

James would be proud of your copy-paste skills... 

At least MI acknowledges it.

[Mirror Image]

At least MI acknowledges it.

So what is your favorite performance of Symphony No. 4 in A minor and why, DD?

[Ken B]

So what is your favorite performance of Symphony No. 4 in A minor and why, DD?

Mine is probably Herbie. It's bleak without sounding likes it's trying to be bleak. I credit Karajan's usual mastery of the architecture of a piece. Because of this it flows and coheres, so it never sounds like, hmmm let's make some bleak sounds here. Like Karl Amadeus Hartmann does.

[Mirror Image]

Mine is probably Herbie. It's bleak without sounding likes it's trying to be bleak. I credit Karajan's usual mastery of the architecture of a piece. Because of this it flows and coheres, so it never sounds like, hmmm let's make some bleak sounds here. Like Karl Amadeus Hartmann does.

That's pretty much what I've gathered from the many listens of HvK's performance. Again, the Finns are spectacular for me as well: Vanska/Lahti, Segerstam/Helsinki, and Berglund/Helsinki.

[Mirror Image]

The Oceanides, Op. 73



Op. 73 Aallottaret (The Oceanides), symphonic poem. Version 1, 1913 (?).
First movement of 1st version missing. First public performance of the 2nd and 3rd movements in Lahti 19th and 20th September 2002.
2nd version in 1914; first performance in Lahti 24th October 2002 (Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä). Version 2 (in D flat major), April 1914. First performance in Lahti, 24th October 2002 (Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä). Final version (in D major), May 1914. First performance in Norfolk (USA), 4th June 1914 (conducted by Jean Sibelius).

The Oceanides ("sea nymphs"; in Finnish Aallottaret or "nymphs of the waves") was written for the Norfolk Music Festival in the United States. It resulted from a commission by Horatio Parker, who was acting on the authorisation of the millionaire and festival promoter Carl Stoeckel and his wife. In 1913 Sibelius started to prepare the work, initially as a suite in three movements. The first movement of the suite has not survived but the second and third movements were performed for the first time as unexpected encores in the autumn of 2002, at the Lahti Sibelius festival under Osmo Vänskä.

The movements are sketchy and their orchestration may be incomplete. The thematic material of The Oceanides is clearly recognisable in the third movement. The second movement is more heterogeneous, and material from it ended up in other compositions. Sibelius wrote on the sketches: "Fragments of a suite for orchestra (Precursor to 'The Oceanides')". Nevertheless, the sketch-like movements are good and interesting music in their own right.

In the spring of 1914 Sibelius prepared a one-movement orchestral work in D flat major from the material. He sent it to the United States on 3rd April. Sibelius considered giving the composition a German title, but in a copyist's receipt from 3rd April the name is already Aallottaret (The Oceanides). Along with the score Sibelius sent a brief explanation in German of what Aallottaret means in Finnish mythology.

Only a few days later Sibelius was asked, if he could come to the United States and conduct the work. He answered in the affirmative. At the same time, he decided to revise the composition, as we know from Aino Sibelius's diary. She writes as follows:

"I am very nervous about that journey, although I see how Janne can benefit from it. And it may be such fun! Janne is rewriting the whole American composition, Aallottaret, as it is called at least for the time being. It is so exhausting for me, but I understand him.Today we have been thinking of adding to the programme for America. Half of the concert programme falls to Janne."

In May the composition temporarily had a German name once again. Aino Sibelius describes the feverish process of copying the music:

"(14th May) The journey to America is approaching. Rondeau der Wellen is not yet completed. Feverish hurry. The journey has been scheduled for Saturday. The score is still unfinished. The copyist, Mr. Kauppi, lives with us and writes day and night. Yesterday we learnt that he has to leave already on Friday evening. It's indescribable. It was a question of using every last hour. Besides, the whole practical side is completely unprepared. This can work only with Janne's energy. Otherwise the journey would be completely out of question. (...)
"Yesterday evening we couldn't accomplish anything practical anymore, but then Janne forced himself to work with his great strength. There are still about twenty pages missing. We lit the lamps in the dining-room, the chandelier in the drawing room, it was a solemn moment. I did not dare to say anything. I just tried to create a pleasant environment. Then I went to bed and Janne stayed awake. All night long I kept hearing his steps, sometimes quiet playing. Towards morning he had moved upstairs. The copyist was awake in his own chamber. It is morning now. The tension continues, there are many things to be done today. If I just could stay very calm, it is the only way in which I can now be of any use."

Sibelius was able to take the new score in D major with him on the journey. He made a few corrections to it, inspired by the sea voyage. But why was it necessary to change the fully prepared D flat major version into a version in D major? The composer Kalevi Aho believes that the reasons were connected with the practicalities of performance and technique:

"In D flat major the string players can hardly use any open strings at all, and because the work is very swift-moving in places, it is very difficult for the strings, both technically and in terms of getting a clear tone. In contrast, D major is a very rewarding key for the violins because you can always use open strings in the swift figures. On the other hand, the orchestral tone in D flat major is veiled, somehow mysterious and impressionistic. Compared with it D major sounds clearer, but also more matter-of-fact. Maybe Sibelius was afraid of the reaction of the musicians to technically difficult music in D flat major and that was why he changed the key and rewrote the work once again. I don't think that purely musical weaknesses would have required a new version in this case."

In Aho's opinion the change of key and the simplification of a few details made the work easier to perform, but at the same time the composition lost "something essential" as regards the sound quality.

In the United States Sibelius realised at the rehearsals that the work was demanding enough for the musicians even in D major. According to Carl Stoeckel The Oceanides was very different from anything the musicians had played previously.

Nevertheless, the concert was a splendid success. Indeed, the audience wept with emotion during Finlandia and Valse triste. The critics, too, were exultant and the composer himself was enthusiastic:

"Up till now I have never (...) conducted another orchestra made up of so many skilful musicians as that orchestra of a hundred players that Mr. Stoeckel got together from Boston and from the New York Metropolitan Opera. For example, in The Oceanides I achieved a build-up that, to a very great degree, surprised even myself.

In The Oceanides Sibelius utilises Debussy's impressionist tone world. It should be remembered, however, that this aspect had already become apparent in the musical language of Sibelius, in such early orchestral works as Kullervo and Lemminkäinen in Tuonela.

[Article taken from Sibelius.fi]

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If you've followed the few posts I've made, I'm simply posting about my 'Top 5 Favorite Sibelius' works. Anyway, I love The Oceanides and I think it catches the composer in a different kind of compositional mood. The shimmering waves and undercurrent of the ocean are deeply felt in this work. One of the most exquisite works of tone-painting I've ever heard. I would say my current favorite performance is Segerstam/Helsinki on Ondine for the reason that I think he allows the music to speak for itself. He flexes out some of the tempi here and there, but this is an incredible performance. I also love Vanska's with the Lahti SO on BIS.

What about you guys?