Eduard Tubin (1905-82)

[Karl Henning]

Toccata and Suite from the ballet Kratt (The Goblin) are the only ones of those left in the box.
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/feb03/Tubin_symphonies.htm

Thanks, good sieur!

[Mirror Image]

Cheers, Jeffrey.

You know, offhand I wonder if the set would drop some of the non-symphony works, such as the Toccata, which I especially enjoy.  So I may just cherry-pick inexpensive used singletons.

In all honesty, and I know you didn't ask for my opinion, but it's best to buy the Tubin Jarvi series individually due to the all the miscellaneous works you get with each recording. Like, for example, Sinfonietta on Estonian Motifs and the Piano Concertino are coupled with Symphony No. 7. The ballet suite from Kratt is coupled with Symphony No. 5 and so forth. Definitely worth your consideration.

[Karl Henning]

Thanks, John; has Järvi recorded the Eleventh?

[Mirror Image]

Thanks, John; has Järvi recorded the Eleventh?

You're welcome, Karl. Jarvi has not, but Volmer has on Alba.

[Brian]

Incidentally, Jarvi requested the concert-hall "completion" of that Symphony No. 11 fragment, but I believe it was Volmer who ended up giving the premiere.

[Karl Henning]

Thanks, gents.

[Christo]

Incidentally, Jarvi requested the concert-hall "completion" of that Symphony No. 11 fragment, but I believe it was Volmer who ended up giving the premiere.

I heard it live in Amsterdam under Järvi with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra somewhere around 1990, and the CD premiere was indeed under Volmer, with the Estonian 'State' SO (as it was called then) on Koch 37291-2H1. Coupled with Kaljo Raid's Second 'Stockholm' Symphony and Tubin's Elegy for Strings (also arranged by Kaljo Raid, who had completed the orchestration of Tubin's Eleventh at Järvi's request).   

[vandermolen]

Cheers, Jeffrey.

You know, offhand I wonder if the set would drop some of the non-symphony works, such as the Toccata, which I especially enjoy.  So I may just cherry-pick inexpensive used singletons.

Good idea. Makes sense Karl.

[Jo498]

I have the BIS disc with the 7th symphony and the piano concertino (probably because someone at another forum raved about it or the composer). I vaguely remember that I liked one of the pieces more than the others but overall not enough to entice me to get more music by Tubin.
How "representative"/typical are those pieces?

[asin]B000027EL0[/asin]

[vandermolen]

I have the BIS disc with the 7th symphony and the piano concertino (probably because someone at another forum raved about it or the composer). I vaguely remember that I liked one of the pieces more than the others but overall not enough to entice me to get more music by Tubin.
How "representative"/typical are those pieces?

[asin]B000027EL0[/asin]

Not that representative of his best work in my opinion. I would try one of symphonies 2-6 before you give up on Tubin. 2 or 4 in particular.

[Karl Henning]

No. 9. Like with Carl Nielsen, the subtitle "Sinfonia semplice" does not mean this is a simple or easy listen! The first movement is a traditional sonata form, so there is that. And Tubin continues his late habit of paring down the scoring, avoiding the batteries of percussion from, e.g., No. 6. His sound-world is getting noticeably more "Nordic," that is, it is gaining the traits one usually associates with Sibelius and the like. (A more "frigid" feel, plaintive winds, reduction in orchestral color for color's sake.)

Having said that, this just isn't my cup of tea. At the quiet ending of No. 9, I was left wondering why the symphony existed, what purpose it served. Another thought: Tubin seems to have completely lost the strong sense of rhythm he had in Nos. 5 and 6. This absence was true of parts of No. 8, as well.

No. 10. This is the only Tubin symphony I'd previously heard, but so long ago that the memory has faded away. There is an interesting, simple horn fanfare which serves to animate some material, but ... mostly this symphony went in one ear, and out the other. Not too many notes on this one, unfortunately. I'm ready for my Tubin journey to be over. There was some good stuff, but none that rose to the level of greatness, and the later years were unkind to this composer both in personal life and musically.

Enjoyed a lot: 4
Enjoyed plenty: 2, 5, 6, 7
Okay: 3
Meh: 1, 8, 10
No, thanks: 9

Maybe the project (listening to the lot as a block) did a disservice to the Tenth, and even to the Ninth.  (Although you had heard the Tenth before . . . .) I am dipping my toes here and there, and pretty much liking everything;  and I am starting from the latter half of the cycle, where I expected to find music better in tune with my likes.  But at a guess, if I had undertaken a survey such as yours, I might well be ready for my Tubin journey to be over, too!

[Turner]

Concerning a possible giving up on Tubin´s symphonies, IMO there´s a big difference between the Volmer and the Järvi cycles; Järvi adds much more excitement, I think.

[Karl Henning]

Tubin seems to have completely lost the strong sense of rhythm he had in Nos. 5 and 6. This absence was true of parts of No. 8, as well.

Let me indulge in a bit of speculation, and add that, since the earliest Tubin symphony I have heard is the Fifth, I am listening to the later symphonies "against a peer group" not of the composer's own earlier symphonies, but of, e.g., the Schuman symphonies.

I hear a balance of nervy purpose, and homespun lyricism.  I am perhaps not as viscerally excited to make these symphonies' acquaintance, as I was with the Schuman, but I find them well-written and genial.

Where my speculation enters the picture is: maybe there was a point when the composer perhaps bridled at being considered (to whatever degree) a folklorist.  It is exactly the sort of "talk to the people, son" musical manner which would have been compelled if he had remained in Soviet Estonia, and maybe that was part of what he fell into in his land of exile, "our Estonian cousin."  In any event, most artists over time, if they feel they have "worked a neighborhood" enough, find themselves motivated to try their hand at something a little new.

Concerning a possible giving up on Tubin´s symphonies, IMO there´s a big difference between the Volmer and the Järvi cycles; Järvi adds much more excitement, I think.

Interesting take.  I've listened to the Eighth through Tenth led by Järvi;  the Fifth as conducted by Vavilov on YouTube I like very much, and it sounds rather better than the samples from that symphony I've heard from both the Järvi & Volmer cycles.  I didn't see a conductor listed in the Eleventh as I found it on YouTube, but my best guess at press time is that it is from the Volmer . . . and Sarge & I both like it a good deal.

[Turner]

Volmer´s 11th has a timing of 8:49 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EVLWMYQ?ie=UTF8&qid=&ref_=tmm_msc_swatch_0&sr=); this you-tube is Paavo Järvi´s (9:27; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyStBMDwo7c).

No Neeme Järvi of that one, to my knowledge.

[Karl Henning]

Volmer´s 11th has a timing of 8:49 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EVLWMYQ?ie=UTF8&qid=&ref_=tmm_msc_swatch_0&sr=); this you-tube is Paavo Järvi´s (9:27; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyStBMDwo7c).

Thanks!

[Karl Henning]

I've listened to the Eighth through Tenth led by Järvi;  the Fifth as conducted by Vavilov [ and the Eleventh conducted by Paavo Järvi ]

Update:  I've now listened to (Neeme) Järvi's Seventh. Clearly, I am trending towards the Sixth now . . . .

[Christo]

Update:  I've now listened to (Neeme) Järvi's Seventh. Clearly, I am trending towards the Sixth now . . . .

The Sixth is his Sacre; his old friend Harri Kiisk told me that Tubin himself felt the same way about it.

[Karl Henning]

The Sixth is his Sacre; his old friend Harri Kiisk told me that Tubin himself felt the same way about it.

Enjoyed my inaugural listen (via YouTube) to the Sixth very much;  and as a result, pulled the trigger on a used-like-new copy of the disc with the Second and Sixth.

So, to recapitulate . . . as against (for comparison) getting a new box set of the BIS symphonies for $54, I've fetched in Symphonies N^os. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 for a total outlay of $27.61.  I still haven't listened to any of the symphonies earlier than the Fifth, so they may or may not sing to me.  But I certainly like (5), 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 (& 11).  The bite-sized Toccata is very well done, too.

[vandermolen]

Enjoyed my inaugural listen (via YouTube) to the Sixth very much;  and as a result, pulled the trigger on a used-like-new copy of the disc with the Second and Sixth.

So, to recapitulate . . . as against (for comparison) getting a new box set of the BIS symphonies for $54, I've fetched in Symphonies N^os. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 for a total outlay of $27.61.  I still haven't listened to any of the symphonies earlier than the Fifth, so they may or may not sing to me.  But I certainly like (5), 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 (& 11).  The bite-sized Toccata is very well done, too.

No 2 is one of the best Karl.
That was my first ever CD.

[Sergeant Rock]

I've listened repeatedly to the symphonies recently and enjoy all of them, except No.1. I'd rank them:

5 3 2 7 (10 9 8 6) 4 1

Those is parenthesis occupy a collective fifth place; impossible to choose which I prefer; they are all attractive.

The Fourth, everyone's favorite (or so it seems), didn't appeal at all until I heard Volmer's recording. I finally hear the inner detail (woodwind, brass) that is missing in Järvi's string heavy recording.

Sarge