The Snowshoed Sibelius

[Dancing Divertimentian]

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

Vanska with Barbirolli a surprisingly close second. Vanska for his ability to zero in on the electrifyingly cold heart of the piece and Barbirolli for the way he lures us right out onto the plank but keeps us blindly oblivious to the doom that lies ahead.

Both are extremely well played, too.

[Mirror Image]

Vanska with Barbirolli a surprisingly close second. Vanska for his ability to zero in on the electrifyingly cold heart of the piece and Barbirolli for the way he lures us right out onto the plank but keeps us blindly oblivious to the doom that lies ahead.

Both are extremely well played, too.

I really need to revisit Barbirolli's Sibelius cycle. I initially didn't enjoy it, but it's been ages since I've heard a single note from it. Vanska is obviously a fave of mine, too. Nice descriptions of the two interpretations.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I still think Sibelius's greatest tone poem (and composition for that matter) is Pohjola's daughter. Glittering like a vein or nugget of pure gold, achieving extremely much in a quarter of an hour. Even Richard Strauss could learn from that! Not that I am against giant tone poems in any way. It's just, my God, this work more than anything else fits Sibelius's comment "One must live every note". There is not a single note in that work that shouldn't be there.

[Karl Henning]

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.

In the spirit of it would be a funny world if we all heard music the same . . . and understanding, too, that I cannot necessarily retrace my ear's steps, to mix metaphors . . . the first recording I ever heard of the Fourth was the HvK, and I came away from that experience thinking the worst of the piece.  The Maazel/Vienna recording fully "rehabilitated" the piece in my ears, and I have since gone back to the HvK without minding it much   

My favorites would probably be Maazel/Vienna, Blomstedt/SFSO, Lenny/NY Phil.  But at this stage, I almost never hear a recording of the Op.63 that I don't like.

[Karl Henning]

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?

Segerstam/Helsinki was my entrée to the piece . . . I was going to add "and still my favorite," but now I wonder if in fact I have heard any other recording . . . true it is, I've felt no need for another.

[North Star]

In the spirit of it would be a funny world if we all heard music the same . . . and understanding, too, that I cannot necessarily retrace my ear's steps, to mix metaphors . . . the first recording I ever heard of the Fourth was the HvK, and I came away from that experience thinking the worst of the piece.  The Maazel/Vienna recording fully "rehabilitated" the piece in my ears, and I have since gone back to the HvK without minding it much   

My favorites would probably be Maazel/Vienna, Blomstedt/SFSO, Lenny/NY Phil.  But at this stage, I almost never hear a recording of the Op.63 that I don't like.

Have you heard Vänskä/Lahti, Karl? Along with Maazel/Vienna, it's my favourite recording of the piece.

I will need to hear the original version of Oceanides.

[Karl Henning]

Have you heard Vänskä/Lahti, Karl?

Not yet, Karlo, but there's no reason not to give it a spin this Boston morning!

[North Star]

Not yet, Karlo, but there's no reason not to give it a spin this Boston morning!

Excellent, looking forward to your comments. 

[Wanderer]

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

Ditto.

...the orchestra in the crescendo passages leaves him in the dust sonically speaking.

That's what having a realistic, concert hall balance means. That's how it sounds like in the concert hall. A realistically recorded violin concerto does not have the violin grotesquely amplified and able to rise above the whole brass section. Furthermore, the dynamic range of this recording is huge and that's where the listening equipment also becomes an issue. Tinny computer speakers or headphones, for instance, are not ideal; a good pair of loudspeakers is what's really needed to appreciate its awesome soundscape.

[Karl Henning]

That's what having a realistic, concert hall balance means. That's how it sounds like in the concert hall. A realistically recorded violin concerto does not have the violin grotesquely amplified and able to rise above the whole brass section. Furthermore, the dynamic range of this recording is huge and that's where the listening equipment also becomes an issue. Tinny computer speakers or headphones, for instance, are not ideal; a good pair of loudspeakers is what's really needed to appreciate its awesome soundscape.

And etymologically, the Italian concerto includes an element of struggle, strife . . . one could argue that the Romantics later overdid the matter, but the soloist should not perhaps expect to coast to an easy victory 

[Wanderer]

And etymologically, the Italian concerto includes an element of struggle, strife . . . one could argue that the Romantics later overdid the matter, but the soloist should not perhaps expect to coast to an easy victory 

Exactly. 

[Mirror Image]

I still think Sibelius's greatest tone poem (and composition for that matter) is Pohjola's daughter. Glittering like a vein or nugget of pure gold, achieving extremely much in a quarter of an hour. Even Richard Strauss could learn from that! Not that I am against giant tone poems in any way. It's just, my God, this work more than anything else fits Sibelius's comment "One must live every note". There is not a single note in that work that shouldn't be there.

That's how I feel about Pohjola's Daughter minus I think it's his 'greatest' over all the others. Every note has purpose in Sibelius' music and I've really come to appreciate this aspect of his music. What's your favorite performance of Pohjola's Daughter?

[Mirror Image]

In the spirit of it would be a funny world if we all heard music the same . . . and understanding, too, that I cannot necessarily retrace my ear's steps, to mix metaphors . . . the first recording I ever heard of the Fourth was the HvK, and I came away from that experience thinking the worst of the piece.  The Maazel/Vienna recording fully "rehabilitated" the piece in my ears, and I have since gone back to the HvK without minding it much   

My favorites would probably be Maazel/Vienna, Blomstedt/SFSO, Lenny/NY Phil.  But at this stage, I almost never hear a recording of the Op.63 that I don't like.

I should revisit Maazel's Vienna cycle and Blomstedt's as well. As for the never hearing a recording of the 4th that I don't like, as long as the conductor is attuned to the music as well as the orchestra --- it'd be hard for me to disagree with that statement.

[Mirror Image]

That's what having a realistic, concert hall balance means. That's how it sounds like in the concert hall. A realistically recorded violin concerto does not have the violin grotesquely amplified and able to rise above the whole brass section. Furthermore, the dynamic range of this recording is huge and that's where the listening equipment also becomes an issue. Tinny computer speakers or headphones, for instance, are not ideal; a good pair of loudspeakers is what's really needed to appreciate its awesome soundscape.

I do a lot of headphone listening, so perhaps I should give the Kavakos/Vanska performance a listen through my stereo at some point.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

What's your favorite performance of Pohjola's Daughter?

Segerstam gives a magnificent one in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_hbNeq0qy8

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Pohjola's daughter is actually one of Sibelius's longer tone poems, contrary what I may have implied, about 15 minutes, like I said. But still, at 15 minutes, all that. Wow. Of course most of Strauss's tone poems are longer, at least his later ones. Yet Sibelius manages to completely satisfy me, even though Daughter is barely one third of a length of Alpensinfonie. Sibelius and Strauss are among the greatest in the field of tone poem. Pohjola's daughter often is called that one Sibelius work closest to Strauss's musical language.

[North Star]

And lets post these here as well:

Feldman raised Sibelius in connection with one specific work of his own, the orchestral piece Coptic Light (1985). His programme note explains that 'An important aspect of the composition was prompted by Sibelius's observation that the orchestra deffers mainly from the piano in that it has no pedal. With this in mind, I set to work to create an orchestral pedal continually varying in nuance.  [...] Thus the whole form of Coptic Light could be seen as an illustration of Hepokoski's definition of rotational forms in Sibelius as a set of varied restatements around a central material, the last of which links up with the harmonic area of the openng. At once static and continuously evolving, Coptic Light is an unexpected instance of Sibelius's effect on one of the most unusual and innovative recent works composed for orchestral in the last two decades.

Quoted in the same book:

I have often said that it is a pity that Sibelius was Finnish! His music has been deeply misunderstood. While his language was far from modern, his thinking, as far as form and treatment of materials is concerned, was ahead of its time. While Varèse is credited with opening the way for new sonorities, Sibelius has himself pursued a profound reassessment of the formal and structural problems of composition. I do not think it is fair that he has been considered as a conservative .  . His harmonies have a resonant, almost spectral quality. You find an attention to sonority in Sibelius works which is actually not so far removed from that which would appear long after in the work of Grisey or Murail . . . For me, the crucial aspect of his work remains his conception of continuity. In Tapiola, above all, the way genuine processes are created using very limited materials is pretty exceptional.

[Karl Henning]

Excellent, looking forward to your comments. 

Delicious, especially the oboes in the Il tempo largo.  More comment later!

[Mirror Image]

The Origin of Fire, Op. 32



Op. 32 Tulen synty (The Origin of Fire) for baritone, male choir and orchestra; words from Kalevala. First version 1902; first performance in Helsinki, 9th February 1902 (Abraham Ojanperä, "Jubilee Choir", Orchestra of Helsinki Philharmonic Society under Jean Sibelius). Final version 1910, piano score 1910.

The Origin of Fire was Sibelius's contribution to the opening of the National Theatre in 1902. It is definitely one Sibelius's best works for choir and orchestra since Kullervo, which had been completed ten years earlier.

The 47th rune of Kalevala stirred Sibelius's patriotic feelings. It mentioned a dark night, which could be understood to reflect the feelings of the people under the rule of Governor-General Bobrikov. The rune ends with a description of the origin of fire. This was seen to symbolise the awakening of the people.

The first public performance on 9th April 1902 was only part of a very long Christmas programme. Päivälehti published the lyrics of the work the following day, commenting only that "the magnificent work made a powerful impact on the audience"..

The work remained in the repertoire and was performed regularly in Finland in the years that followed. Sibelius understood the value of his work and revised it eight years later. The dark and severe composition shows considerable skill in the baritone, choir and orchestral parts, although Erik Tawaststjerna thought their were some stereotypical elements in the solutions the composer arrived at. The work shows a side of Sibelius that combines patriotism with real compositional interest.

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For me, this is a mature Sibelius work even though it's still relatively early in his oeuvre. There are two versions of this work. I prefer the original version due to the longer introduction which really adds to the grim atmosphere. The orchestration is also more sparse, which gives more of an impression of a desolate landscape. The baritone part, IMHO, predates what sounds like many parts of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 14. The revised version features some different orchestration and bit of a different structure, but I think some of the original sound was lost, but, still, this is prime Sibelius and anyone who loves this composer should definitely check this work out. It only exists in two recordings (if I'm not mistaken): Vanska and Berglund. I haven't heard the Berglund.

[North Star]

Tulen Synty is one of many Sibelius's works that deserves to be much better known. Here's the revised version on YT, as unfortunately I don't think the original is there.

(In the article quoted by MI John, 'rune' is an appalling mistranslation of 'runo', which is Finnish for 'poem'.)

https://www.youtube.com/v/3S_ItXpjWNE