The Snowshoed Sibelius

[Karl Henning]

When I was dating the future Mrs. Rock, I bought her a LP box set of Sibelius Symphonies (DG, Karajan and Kamu). She decided to listen to them in order. She liked 1 & 2 but totally fell in love with 3. She loved it so much she never progressed beyond 3  Of course over the years, she eventually heard the rest (being married to me) but on her own she only listens to the Third.

Sarge

The Third truly has a kind of enchanting quality.

[North Star]

When I was dating the future Mrs. Rock, I bought her a LP box set of Sibelius Symphonies (DG, Karajan and Kamu).

Sarge

I advise against telling this to the current Mrs Rock 😉

[Karl Henning]

YHSM, Karlo  ("Sibelius mail")   0:)

[Sergeant Rock]

I advise against telling this to the current Mrs Rock 😉

Sarge

[Mirror Image]

When I was dating the future Mrs. Rock, I bought her a LP box set of Sibelius Symphonies (DG, Karajan and Kamu). She decided to listen to them in order. She liked 1 & 2 but totally fell in love with 3. She loved it so much she never progressed beyond 3  Of course over the years, she eventually heard the rest (being married to me) but on her own she only listens to the Third.

Sarge

Yeah, it's hard not to fall under the spell of this symphony. It's pretty downright infectious.

[Moonfish]

Seemingly there is some "Sibelius" activity in the works this year.   
I have no idea of what this DG edition will contain at this point in time.

Sibelius Edition [Sept 4, 2015]

http://www.amazon.de/Sibelius-Edition-Bernstein/dp/B00ZB7UYF8




There is another box from Decca (11 cds) as well with Flagstad, Nilsson, Collins, Rosbaud, and Van Beinum listed as artists/conductors.

Sibelius: Great Performances (Aug 7, 2015) - no image yet

http://www.amazon.de/Sibelius-Great-Performances-Flagstad/dp/B00YG7W8EO

[Madiel]

Seemingly there is some "Sibelius" activity in the works this year.   

Doh. Of course. 150th birthday coming up.

[Moonfish]

Doh. Of course. 150th birthday coming up.

Yes, all of us in this thread already knew that Orfeo!   
The question is why it took them so long...?

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,341.msg899365.html#msg899365

[Mirror Image]

And now the box sets are flooding in. (Not that I need any of them.)

[Mirror Image]

Yes, all of us in this thread already knew that Orfeo!   
The question is why it took them so long...?

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,341.msg899365.html#msg899365

Maybe because Sibelius' birthday isn't until Dec. 8th? If anything, we're getting these sets earlier.

[Moonfish]

Maybe because Sibelius' birthday isn't until Dec. 8th? If anything, we're getting these sets earlier.

Good point. At least BIS started VERY early! 

[Madiel]

Yes, all of us in this thread already knew that Orfeo!   

Well some of us might have forgotten! 

[Mirror Image]

Symphony No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 82



First version 1915: 1. Tempo moderato assai, 2. Allegro commodo, 3. Andante mosso, 4. Allegro commodo - Largamente molto; first performance in Helsinki on 8th December 1915 (Helsinki City Orchestra under Jean Sibelius).
Second version 1916: 1. Tempo molto moderato, 2. Andante mosso, 3. Allegro molto - Largamente assai; first performance in Turku on 8th December 1916 (Orchestra of Turun Soitannollinen Seura under Jean Sibelius).
Final version 1919: 1. Tempo molto moderato - Allegro moderato (ma poco a poco stretto), 2. Andante mosso, quasi allegretto, 3. Allegro molto; first performance in Helsinki, 24th November 1919 (Helsinki City Orchestra under Jean Sibelius).

The second and fifth symphonies compete for the title of Sibelius's most popular symphony. Both sound splendid and end in a blaze of glory.

The sovereign mastery of the fifth symphony gives no hint of the years of hard decision-making that went into it. Ideas were conceived initially, then discarded, then rewritten, then finally taken up again in a new form.

During the First World War Sibelius as a composer led his life "on two levels". His contacts with the outside world were sparse because of the war, and financial pressures forced him to produce a great number of small pieces for Finnish publishers. At the same time he was planning an entirely new kind of symphony. He would write three different versions of it before he was satisfied with the result.

Sibelius had been thinking about the fifth symphony, at least since the spring of 1912 when he was working on other pieces. In the summer of 1914, just after the outbreak of the First World War, he wrote that he had got an idea for "a lovely theme". Then in the autumn of 1914 he wrote a prophecy to his friend Axel Carpelan: "Another depth of misery. But I can already make out the mountain that I shall ascend (...) God is opening his doors for a moment, and his orchestra is playing the fifth symphony."

While Sibelius's diary notes show that his mood during the fourth symphony was one of determination, the initial stages of the fifth symphony seemed to be filled with ecstasy. "The autumn sun is shining. Nature in its farewell colours. My heart is singing sadly – the shadows grow longer. The Adagio of my fifth symphony? That I, poor fellow that I am, can have moments of such richness!!" he wrote on 10th October 1914. And in November the sentiment grew even stronger: "I have a lovely theme. An adagio for the symphony – earth, worms and misery, fortissimo and sordinos [mutes], lots of sordinos. And the melodies are divine!!"

In another diary entry (April 1915) Sibelius wrote: "In the evening, working on the symphony. This important task which strangely enchants me. As if God the Father had thrown down pieces of a mosaic from the floor of heaven and asked me to work out the pattern." Indeed, he produced a "mosaic" of drafts during the autumn and winter of 1914. But from such an assembly of material can we know which draft belonged to which movement, or even to which work?
In addition to the symphony Sibelius was planning a violin concerto, which he also discussed with Breitkopf & Härtel. And this plan began to develop into yet another work, the sixth symphony. Themes were moved from one draft to another. Part of the first drafts for the sixth symphony finally ended up in the fifth symphony - and the second theme of the finale of the sixth symphony can first be found among the drafts for the fifth symphony!

On the 21st April Sibelius saw sixteen swans. In his diary he immediately wrote a magnificent thematic sequence, which ended up in the finale of the fifth symphony. "One of the great experiences of my life! God, how beautiful," he wrote in his diary.

Erik Tawaststjerna made an in-depth analysis of the way in which Sibelius developed the ideas in his sketchbook into his fifth symphony. Tawaststjerna divided the motifs (those that passed the self-criticism stage) into those generated by a "stepping impulse" and those generated by a "rocking impulse".

Both of these impulses are clearly present in the first version of the fifth symphony, which was performed in Helsinki on the composer's 50th birthday, 8th December 1915. It achieved enormous and immediate success. Sibelius was already a national hero, and the reception was overwhelming: the composer had to receive delegations for hours before the concert, the audience shrieked for joy during the concert, and the celebrations continued over several days and many performances.

The reception of the first version is reflected in Otto Kotilainen's review in Helsingin Sanomat. The symphony was still in four movements, and Kotilainen noted quite correctly that the second movement stood in a very close relation to the first. In the first version the first movement ends in an oddly inconclusive manner, as if it were an introduction to the second movement. Kotilainen regarded the third, slow movement as "one of the strangest andante movements ever written", describing it in terms of "simplicity, depth, beauty" (and soon Sibelius discovered that the slow movement was still too simple in this form).
According to Kotilainen the finale was like the raging of the forces of nature. In the canon at the end Kotilainen heard the "wildest dissonances" as the theme criss-crossed from one instrument to another. "True musical magic," the critic marvelled. He declared the fifth symphony to be a masterpiece.

The review shows how much the first version differed from the final version. The original version is clearly longer, and the scherzo episode at the end of the first movement is still a separate movement. In the finale of the first version there are exciting dissonant features, which look back to the fourth symphony, and which Sibelius later smoothed out. Even the famous final strokes were still ligatured to each other with the timpani. In 1995, the first version attracted international attention, when Osmo Vänskä recorded it with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.

Sibelius was preparing the symphony for publication in January 1916, but he was not satisfied with its form. Now began the revision in which the two first movements of the symphony were joined together by means of an ingenious bridge passage – moreover, this was done in a way that revealed the connections between the movements; thus the first two movements now form an organic whole.

In the version which was completed in 1916 the slow movement was apparently – to judge by the parts of the score that have survived – an intermediate form of the versions from the years 1915 and 1919. The same applies to the finale: in this, part of the original material had been temporarily discarded and replaced with ideas which were eventually cut from the 1919 version. The precise revisions of the second (December 1916) version are not entirely clear, as the critics did not make detailed comparisons with the previous version.

The third version was the only version that Sibelius was satisfied with. The beginning was not far from its original form, but the slow movement had become a more versatile movement with rich and ambiguous variations of its theme. In the finale some loosely-connected episodes were eliminated, but the splendid largamente section of the 1915 version was restored.

On the 22nd April Sibelius wrote: The fifth symphony – mirabile, [not] to say horribile dictu: completed in its final form. Been struggling with God." Six days later he was already striking out the second and third movements! However, after one more revision of the finale the whole work was at last ready. "Now it is good," Sibelius wrote.

[Article taken from Sibelius.fi]

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This is a symphony that took me awhile to understand and actually come around to enjoying (not that it was ever displeasing to my ears). The 5th has long fascinated me especially coming after the rather austere 4th (my personal favorite Sibelius symphony). A heartfelt farewell and the idea of transience are themes that I personally associate with the 5th. As I mentioned several times, the final movement, for me, is like the parting of two lovers who perhaps know it's time to move on while one is on the dock waving goodbye to the other who is on a boat that's sailing off into the sunset. As for performances, I love Vanska's Lahti performance with Segerstam's Helsinki performance coming into second place. It doesn't get much better then these two performances for me.

What do you guys think of this symphony? Any favorite performances?

[Sergeant Rock]

This is a symphony that took me awhile to understand and actually come around to enjoying

For me it was the Symphony that made me fall in love with Sibelius (well, I liked Finlandia when I was a teen but I never got beyond that piece until I heard Maazel and Cleveland perform the Fifth in 1971.

What do you guys think of this symphony? Any favorite performances?

It's one of my Top 5 Symphonies of All Time (Mahler 6, Brahms 4, Nielsen 3, RVW4 are the others).

Favorite versions: Rattle/Philharmonia, Bernstein/NY, Berglund/Bournemouth. I like the hammerblows at the end to be stretched out to the max 

Sarge

[Mirror Image]

For me it was the Symphony that made me fall in love with Sibelius (well, I liked Finlandia when I was a teen but I never got beyond that piece until I heard Maazel and Cleveland perform the Fifth in 1971.

It's one of my Top 5 Symphonies of All Time (Mahler 6, Brahms 4, Nielsen 3, RVW4 are the others).

Favorite versions: Rattle/Philharmonia, Bernstein/NY, Berglund/Bournemouth. I like the hammerblows at the end to be stretched out to the max 

Sarge

It's certainly a fine work, Sarge. Like I mentioned, I never disliked the 5th, it's impact just didn't register with me immediately. Now, of course, I find it to be absolutely incredible in every way imaginable. Yeah, I figured you'd like the hammer blows to be cranked up to 10.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I recall a critic who said that Sibelius had ruined the entire symphony with those ending chords...

[Sergeant Rock]

I recall a critic who said that Sibelius had ruined the entire symphony with those ending chords...

There's a critic you don't need to listen to 

Sarge

[Mirror Image]

I recall a critic who said that Sibelius had ruined the entire symphony with those ending chords...

Well we all know what Sibelius thought of critics and I feel the same way.

[Wanderer]

In the finale of the first version there are exciting dissonant features, which look back to the fourth symphony, and which Sibelius later smoothed out. Even the famous final strokes were still ligatured to each other with the timpani.

I much prefer it that way. The revision did indeed greatly enhance the work... except in the finale. IMO of course.

[Moonfish]

Collins' Sibelius cycle on vinyl [Aug 7]

http://www.amazon.de/Sibelius-S%C3%A4mtliche-Sinfonien-Ltd-Edt-Vinyl/dp/B00WRVMH7E