Sibelius, 50th anniversary of death (09-20-1957) and the Wood Nymph

[Tapkaara]

Oh, the Wood Nymph is coming to life again!  People, you seem to have listened to the first minutes of the piece. The big deal about  the wood nymph is the über über über dramatic ending, starting at 16:45 in the BIS recording. Most impressive.

It is indeed coming to life. I popped it in the player this evening and was, again, taken aback by the grandeur of the score.

I think Elgarian will flip when he hears the rest of it! 

[DavidW]

Hey the whole work is only $2 on eclassical!  I might just buy it...

[Elgarian]

I think Elgarian will flip when he hears the rest of it! 

I'm preparing myself for flippery. My copy of the disc was posted to me this morning, I'm told.

[Tapkaara]

I'm preparing myself for flippery. My copy of the disc was posted to me this morning, I'm told.

I recall on another forum someone mentioned Sibelius's music had a "lack of dramatic contrasts." Of course, that is a stupid statement in general, but rendered especially stupid by this work.

[Elgarian]

People, you seem to have listened to the first minutes of the piece. The big deal about  the wood nymph is the über über über dramatic ending, starting at 16:45 in the BIS recording. Most impressive.

So I haven't heard the best of it yet! Wonderful.

Listen to it loud, unless you've got neighbours

My neighbours are away until Friday, so I have a chance if the disc gets here in time.

Thanks for the link.

[DavidRoss]

Lightning striking twice! I don't think I'm being manic - I really think the music lit the blue touch paper - first the Immerseel Beethoven at lunchtime; now this. I think I'll go and lie down, quietly ....

Thanks for introducing me to an expression I'd not heard before:  "lit the blue touch paper."  Fireworks in your noggin, eh?  Thanks to this, I'm now listening to the Vänskä/Lahti recording of "The Wood Nymph," which I seem to have given short shrift, judging from the number here who admire it so much:  Finlandia meets Pohjola's Daughter, methinks.  That extreme, heart on sleeve Romanticism isn't my cuppa (being more a 4th through 7th, Tapiola-Oceanides sort of fellow), but it's interesting to hear glimmers of what lies ahead in it.  Love the quiet passages in the latter part that lead to the Lemminkäinen-ish finale Wurstwasser likes so much.

I like the lovely little Lonely Ski Trail on that disc, but could do without the narration, and I've always liked Swanwhite, which to me is a fine example of the third realm of Sibelius's greatness, after the symphonies and tone poems--his incidental music for the theatre.   

[Elgarian]

Thanks for introducing me to an expression I'd not heard before:  "lit the blue touch paper."  Fireworks in your noggin, eh?

Lightning, fireworks - I'll mix my metaphors with anyone, anytime.

Thanks to this, I'm now listening to the Vänskä/Lahti recording of "The Wood Nymph," which I seem to have given short shrift, judging from the number here who admire it so much:  Finlandia meets Pohjola's Daughter, methinks.  That extreme, heart on sleeve Romanticism isn't my cuppa (being more a 4th through 7th, Tapiola-Oceanides sort of fellow), but it's interesting to hear glimmers of what lies ahead in it.

H-o-s Romanticism used to be very much my cuppa, a good long while ago - I was always primarily a Sibelius 1,2,3 and 5 man (I presume we'd have to haggle between us for ownership of 5, David). But it's been a while since they really set me ablaze - so I was shocked (but very pleasantly) to find myself responding so wholeheartedly to Wood Nymph.

[DavidRoss]

H-o-s Romanticism used to be very much my cuppa, a good long while ago - I was always primarily a Sibelius 1,2,3 and 5 man (I presume we'd have to haggle between us for ownership of 5, David). But it's been a while since they really set me ablaze - so I was shocked (but very pleasantly) to find myself responding so wholeheartedly to Wood Nymph.

I love the 5th.  It's what I usually cite when asked to name my favorite work.  By anyone.  And I love the neo-classical 3rd (before neo-classicism became fashionable--but then, Sibelius was always ahead of the curve--so far ahead, in fact, that most still seem not to have caught up to him  ).  And the 1st--especially that wonderfully weird, wandering clarinet solo at the start--makes another strong claim on my heart (sleeveless or no).

If it's been awhile, you might give the 4th and 6th and 7th another opportunity to work their magic on you.  (Given your predilection for early opera, I'm surprised you've not yet fallen under the 6th's spell.)  Think I'll put Sakari's 6th on right now, since it's been awhile for me, too. 

[Elgarian]

And the 1st--especially that wonderfully weird, wandering clarinet solo at the start--makes another strong claim on my heart (sleeveless or no).

It was one of the first few pieces of classical music I ever heard, when I was nobbut a lad. Talk about the hair prickling on the back of my neck! That clarinet solo, wafting like a solitary leaf in the wind; then those searing Sibelian strings, rushing in from a cold sky. What, I asked, is that?

If it's been awhile, you might give the 4th and 6th and 7th another opportunity to work their magic on you.  (Given your predilection for early opera, I'm surprised you've not yet fallen under the 6th's spell.)

I would. I will. Part of the reason for getting the Davis set was to try listening to the whole cycle again with a fresh ear, but the plan went awry somewhat when I realised what dud performances they were.

[karlhenning]

We clarinetists are notorious wafters, of course.

[DavidRoss]

It was one of the first few pieces of classical music I ever heard, when I was nobbut a lad. Talk about the hair prickling on the back of my neck! That clarinet solo, wafting like a solitary leaf in the wind; then those searing Sibelian strings, rushing in from a cold sky. What, I asked, is that?

Exactly!  Perfect imagery, dude!  (A term of affection lingering from my teenaged years on the beaches of North San Diego county.  )  A solitary leaf, wafting on the faintest eddies of breeze, suddenly beset by a chill wind rushing in from the north...and then that brief promise of a sunlight meadow in spring....  Damn but it's one of the most compelling openings in the entire repertoire--and it just goes on, building bit by bit, cell by cell, like nothing anyone had ever even imagined before, and which despite my familiarity, I cannot help but get drawn into whenever I hear it.

If you're looking for a fantastic 1st, and 2nd, 3rd, and 5th, performed with Romantic fire and sweep, you cannot do better than Bernstein's cycle with the NYPO from the '60s.  (The other 3 symphonies are performed well, too!) 

[karlhenning]

Mighty toothsome, Dave! He's giving you pearls here, Elgarian.

[Tapkaara]

Exactly!  Perfect imagery, dude!  (A term of affection lingering from my teenaged years on the beaches of North San Diego county. 

North County...Encinitas? Oceanside perhaps? Hehehe...

[DavidRoss]

North County...Encinitas? Oceanside perhaps? Hehehe...

Encinitas, yes.  And Leucadia.  Solano.  Del Mar.  La Jolla.  Probably spent more time at Swami's below Yogananda's ashram than anywhere else.  I was doen there last just over three years ago.  I hate going down there.  Every time my heart gets even more broken to see what's happened to it all.  I never suspected just how special that area was, or how quickly it would disappear.  If I could turn back time, I'd do it in a heartbeat!

[Tapkaara]

Encinitas, yes.  And Leucadia.  Solano.  Del Mar.  La Jolla.  Probably spent more time at Swami's below Yogananda's ashram than anywhere else.  I was doen there last just over three years ago.  I hate going down there.  Every time my heart gets even more broken to see what's happened to it all.  I never suspected just how special that area was, or how quickly it would disappear.  If I could turn back time, I'd do it in a heartbeat!

My uncle and cousin live in Encinitas a surf every day...they've never heard The Wood Nymph, though!!

[Elgarian]

Listening to Wood Nymph from the start again:

Into the second half now, and hearing this section for the first time.

I love that moment about 10 minutes in when everything stops. Like Dante, seeing the light in the dark wood. Selva oscura. I haven't read the notes - it sounds like he's just seen the nymph, ahead in a clearing, perhaps? Turning now so lyrical, quietly meandering solo string melody - I wonder what he's doing? Sounds like he's hiding among the trees watching her. I presume she doesn't know he's there? I really should have read the notes! Something's happening. Gosh this is beautiful. But a different tone struck now by the strings: pulsing rhythms, warning notes on the brass, those fidgety strings behind all this, very uneasy indeed.... Building up - something like a wall of feeling, of mixed fear and awe. Like standing at the foot of a great waterfall and being terrified of it and transfixed by it at the same time.

All over. I need to read the notes! What a fabulous piece of music.

[karlhenning]

(Wonder if I've got the Wood Nymph . . . ?)

[Tapio Dimitriyevich Shostakovich]

(Wonder if I've got the Wood Nymph . . . ?)

It should be only available on those 3 CDs, first two have the same recordings:

[Elgarian]

If it's been awhile, you might give the 4th and 6th and 7th another opportunity to work their magic on you.  (Given your predilection for early opera, I'm surprised you've not yet fallen under the 6th's spell.)  Think I'll put Sakari's 6th on right now, since it's been awhile for me, too.

After listening to Wood Nymph twice today already, I thought I'd give the 6th another go - it's been years since I last tried it. But no, it's not for me. I come to Sibelius for the windswept Scandinavian plains, vales and forests, the snow-blown landscape - and in that context, the big, sweeping tunes. I'm not a sophisticated listener - I understand too little for that - and I'm a sucker for the big Sibelian tunes. If they're not there I get listless and fidgety, and gradually my mind drifts off onto something else long before the music ends. It probably means I'm listening for all the wrong reasons or something, but there it is. It always seemed to me that there was such a sharp division between 1/2/3/5 and 4/6/7 that it's almost like listening to a different composer.

I think I've also now realised what my Sibelian quest truly is. It's not to find the most satisfying symphony cycle; it's to find the most satisfying 1/2/3/5, taken one at a time. So my current search for the 'best' 1st symphony seems to make eminent sense as the first and most important step (because it is my favourite of all the symphonies).

[Tapio Dimitriyevich Shostakovich]

Well, finding the/my "best" interpretation of a specific work is a good quest, I'm also not searching for cycles. Well, you don't like the 4th? This fine mysterious piece? Give it a try with Segerstam. EDIT: I asked a mod to put the non-Woodnymph discusion to the Snowshoed Sibelius thread.