Eduard Tubin (1905-82)

[vandermolen]

I've given a listen to samples of n^os. 4 & 7, and think I'll take a dip.  Thanks, Jeffrey!

Always a pleasure Karl. No 4?is the only live one in the BIS cycle. I think that Tubin was in attendance - I certainly hope so.
PS you like VW so should like No 4.

[Karl Henning]

This is the one I sampled, Eesti Riiklik Sümfooniaorkester:

[asin]B00005Y0NG[/asin]

[cilgwyn]

Always a pleasure Karl. No 4?is the only live one in the BIS cycle. I think that Tubin was in attendance - I certainly hope so.
PS you like VW so should like No 4.

I wavered over buying this one after reading the Hurwitz complaining about the quality of the recording. I DID listen on Sennheisser wireless headphones,but it sounded pretty stunning to me. And yes,my old Penguin guide is right about the "exceptionally well behaved audience!" I wish they were always like that! I usually avoid live recordings. No problem with this recording,thank goodness!

I like the Sixth,which doesn't seem to get so many accolades here. I find it very exciting. I just wish I was able to blast the neighbours with it,like vandermolen does! Those noisy bits need to be heard on big speakers with mega-bass!

[Scion7]

There is a YouTube posting of Symphony Nr.5 purported to be by Jansons & the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra -
can anyone verify this is a valid credit for this?
Oft-times the credits posted by YouTubers are not correct.
Just wondering.  I am not that familiar with Tubin's music and only have the Jarvi of this one.

[calyptorhynchus]

I've been listening to the Bis completely and I am favorably impressed with this symphonic cycle.

I'm thinking of getting the Bis disk with the String Quartet and Piano Quartet. Are these up to the same standard as the symphonies?

[vandermolen]

I like the Sixth,which doesn't seem to get so many accolades here. I find it very exciting. I just wish I was able to blast the neighbours with it,like vandermolen does! Those noisy bits need to be heard on big speakers with mega-bass!

Hardly! I am constantly being told to 'turn down that noise' or 'must we listen to this?' By the other occupants of this house. The cat enjoys the Tubin though. 

[calyptorhynchus]

Ok, I'll answer my own question: yes the BIS Tubin String Quartet disk is well worth getting.

When I first listened to the SQ I thought it must have been an early folkloric work, but something didn't seem right. When I looked at the date IO realised it was in fact one of Tubin's last works written in the late 1970s, the older composer looking back at his youth with fondness. There certainly seems to be an autumnal feel to the work. The short piece 'Elegy' for SQ is also excellent, but I don't know what the date of it is.

Of the other works on the disk the Tubin Piano Quartet from the 1930s is good, but not in the same league as the SQ. I was surprised by how good the Tüür SQ was, I had heard some of his symphonies and wasn't very impressed. But this work seemed to have more of developmental feel about it than those works. Finally there's a version of Pärt's Frates for SQ, which is very good.

[cilgwyn]

Having to answer your own question? You should try posting on the Roy Harris thread!
I hope Tubin's String Quartet isn't that good,however! And,I mean that in the best possible way! I'm already getting some funny looks from one of my postman! Thirteen packages of cds in one day!!

NB:I will come back to you on P.S. Like Mirror Image I need to be "in the right mood". I've recently been ploughing through piles of Louis Spohr,Berlioz and Beecham cds. The eras and idiom could clash a little too much!

[cilgwyn]

The most packages in one day was 23;but that included books. I remember the postman grinned and asked if I had enough to got on with? The same one,incidentally,who told me the water company were looking for an escaped crocodile,when they were digging up the road! Of course I didn't believe him! What the heck would a crocodile be doing in a sewerage pipe in Wales?!!

And back to Tubin........

[vandermolen]

This is a very nice and inexpensive CD which compliments the more epic symphonies. The Piano Concertino is entirely characteristic (from the end of World War Two) and grows on me more and more. The Music for Strings is also eloquent:
[asin]B00006DIC7[/asin]

[vandermolen]

Increasingly enjoying Symphony 10 - one of the best I think.

[Christo]

Increasingly enjoying Symphony 10 - one of the best I think.

From the Tubin to the Kinsella cycle - apparently also an Eleventh in the making - is not a big jump. 

[vandermolen]

From the Tubin to the Kinsella cycle - apparently also and Eleventh in the making - is not a big jump. 

Definitely, I agree. 

[cilgwyn]

Trawling through the listings for Radio 3 today,I noticed that the afternoon concert next Friday includes Tubin's Sixth symphony. The BBC Philharmonic are playing it,I don't know who the conductor is though. This is the first time I've seen Tubin in the R3 listings for a while. This doesn't seem to be a favourite amongst Tubin's admirers,but I love it. I find it darkly gripping,turbulent,mysterious and exciting. A hint of bombast maybe,here and there;but in a good way!!

[vandermolen]

Trawling through the listings for Radio 3 today,I noticed that the afternoon concert next Friday includes Tubin's Sixth symphony. The BBC Philharmonic are playing it,I don't know who the conductor is though. This is the first time I've seen Tubin in the R3 listings for a while. This doesn't seem to be a favourite amongst Tubin's admirers,but I love it. I find it darkly gripping,turbulent,mysterious and exciting. A hint of bombast maybe,here and there;but in a good way!!

Nice to hear this - thanks for posting.

[lescamil]

Trawling through the listings for Radio 3 today,I noticed that the afternoon concert next Friday includes Tubin's Sixth symphony. The BBC Philharmonic are playing it,I don't know who the conductor is though. This is the first time I've seen Tubin in the R3 listings for a while. This doesn't seem to be a favourite amongst Tubin's admirers,but I love it. I find it darkly gripping,turbulent,mysterious and exciting. A hint of bombast maybe,here and there;but in a good way!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05303mv

Arvo Volmer is the conductor. No surprise here! Seems like it's always the same conductors performing his music.

[calyptorhynchus]

Funnily enough the Sixth is the only Tubin symphony I don't like, for the reason Cilgwyn mentioned, the bombast, particularly the ending.

[vandermolen]

Funnily enough the Sixth is the only Tubin symphony I don't like, for the reason Cilgwyn mentioned, the bombast, particularly the ending.

My favourites are 1,2,3,4,5 and 10.

[Christo]

Funnily enough the Sixth is the only Tubin symphony I don't like, for the reason Cilgwyn mentioned, the bombast, particularly the ending.

Funnily enough the Sixth is by far my favourite, ever since I first heard it. The first two movements are so strong IMHO that the third could only alter the game and start a huge passacaglia ending not in bombast, but Shostakovichean-grotesque protest against it, i.e. (Soviet) brutality. Spine-tingling, breathtaking. 

[Christo]

My favourites are 1,2,3,4,5 and 10.

Haha. Mine almost mirror your choice: Nos. 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, are my first choices. Nos. 3 and 10 follow closely, and No. 5 (that I even heard live, and No. 6 and 11 too) is the odd one out, the only one in the series that I never really came to terms with, though I own all three recordings and did my very best. As said, No. 6 is my favourite, closely followed by the more tongue-in-cheeck No. 8 and the lyrical No. 4.