The Snowshoed Sibelius

[kyjo]

I mentioned on the WAYLTN thread a vague dream of someone doing a decent series of Sibelius' orchestral works that wasn't so focused on the symphonies, but also wasn't BIS' approach of stuffing boxes with every sketch and alternate version.

And then I started trying to map such a series out. This is what I came up with, in a form that covered symphonies, tone poems, works for violin and orchestra and then some solo vocal works got added because they were fitting (ones originally for orchestra, not orchestrations of solo songs though if you want to squeeze them in there).

If someone did something like these 10 volumes I'd be chuffed. I'm going to try these sequences out, which in a few cases put symphonies with their original couplings. Dates might occasionally be slightly off.

Volume 1: Kullervo (1892)

Volume 2: Overture in E minor and Scene de Ballet (1891), Spring Song (1894/5), 4 Legends (Lemminkainen Suite) (1896/7)

Volume 3: The Wood Nymph (1894/5), Serenade (1894/5), The Rapids-Riders' Brides (1897) Symphony No.1 (1899/1900)

Volume 4: En Saga (1892/1902), Overture in A minor (1902), Symphony No.2 (1902/3)

Volume 5: Cassazione (1904/5), Violin Concerto (1903-5), Romance in C (1904), Pohjola's Daughter (1906)

Volume 6: Symphony No.3 (1907), The Dryad (1910), Dance-Intermezzo (1904/7), Cortege aka D-I number 2 (1905), Pan and Echo aka D-I number 3 (1906), Night Ride and Sunrise (1908)

Volume 7: Scenes Historiques 1 (1899/1911), Scenes Historiques 2 (1912), Arioso (1911), Symphony No.4 (1911)

Volume 8: Rakastava (1893-4/1911-12), In Memoriam (1909-10), 2 Serenades for violin and orchestra (1912-3), Symphony No.5 (1915-9)

Volume 9: Luonnotar (1913), The Bard (1913-4), The Oceanides (1914), Humoresques for violin and orchestra (1917-8), Symphony No.6 (1923)

Volume 10: Tapiola (1926), 3 Suites of op.98/100 (1921-2), Suite for Violin and Orchestra (1929), Andante Festivo (1922/38), Symphony No.7 (1924)

And that's my nerdy project for the evening.

Glancing at your list, the orchestral song The Rapids-Rider's Brides caught my attention for its cool title. I just listened to it for the first time - what an utterly magnificent work! Lasting just over 9 minutes in length, it's more of a tone poem for voice and orchestra along the lines of the later Luonnatar, and it's prime early Sibelius in its big-boned, heroic style. It receives a magnificent performance on this disc by the commanding baritone Jorma Hynninen and the Gothenburg SO under Jorma Panula:



https://youtu.be/0Np8NNyFusU?si=gC0d8_oA-2EBpOun

Discovering works like these just goes to show how many unknown gems there are scattered throughout Sibelius' vast oeuvre!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Glancing at your list, the orchestral song The Rapids-Rider's Brides caught my attention for its cool title. I just listened to it for the first time - what an utterly magnificent work! Lasting just over 9 minutes in length, it's more of a tone poem for voice and orchestra along the lines of the later Luonnatar, and it's prime early Sibelius in its big-boned, heroic style. It receives a magnificent performance on this disc by the commanding baritone Jorma Hynninen and the Gothenburg SO under Jorma Panula:



https://youtu.be/0Np8NNyFusU?si=gC0d8_oA-2EBpOun

Discovering works like these just goes to show how many unknown gems there are scattered throughout Sibelius' vast oeuvre!

I haven't listened to that work in a while and don't believe that I've heard your recording.  The song is fascinating though.   

PD

[Madiel]

Glancing at your list, the orchestral song The Rapids-Rider's Brides caught my attention for its cool title. I just listened to it for the first time - what an utterly magnificent work! Lasting just over 9 minutes in length, it's more of a tone poem for voice and orchestra along the lines of the later Luonnatar, and it's prime early Sibelius in its big-boned, heroic style. It receives a magnificent performance on this disc by the commanding baritone Jorma Hynninen and the Gothenburg SO under Jorma Panula:



https://youtu.be/0Np8NNyFusU?si=gC0d8_oA-2EBpOun

Discovering works like these just goes to show how many unknown gems there are scattered throughout Sibelius' vast oeuvre!

Yes, that is absolutely one of the works that is an unknown gem, I love it. I completely agree with your thoughts on it.

The only bad thing about it is trying to remember where the apostrophe goes. The rapids are plural, and so are the brides, but I struggle to remember whether it's one rider or many...

[Roasted Swan]

Yes, that is absolutely one of the works that is an unknown gem, I love it. I completely agree with your thoughts on it.

The only bad thing about it is trying to remember where the apostrophe goes. The rapids are plural, and so are the brides, but I struggle to remember whether it's one rider or many...

Adding to the love for this disc - and indeed many/most/all of those early BIS releases; so many discoveries (not just Sibelius) and you pretty much knew the recordings would be demonstration quality and the performances authentic and skilled.  From that time in the early years of CD when the industry was buoyant and able to churn out so many discs of wonderful music from the periphery of the standard repertoire.  The only problem I had was no money - so having to choose between all these treasures was a pleasurable conundrum.  (The BIS WARNING!! on the CD cover just added to their aura!)

[relm1]

Adding to the love for this disc - and indeed many/most/all of those early BIS releases; so many discoveries (not just Sibelius) and you pretty much knew the recordings would be demonstration quality and the performances authentic and skilled.  From that time in the early years of CD when the industry was buoyant and able to churn out so many discs of wonderful music from the periphery of the standard repertoire.  The only problem I had was no money - so having to choose between all these treasures was a pleasurable conundrum.  (The BIS WARNING!! on the CD cover just added to their aura!)

What does the warning say?  It's too small for me to read.  Is it saying "Warning: you're likely to spend a lot more of your money on other recordings if you listen to this music"?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

What does the warning say?  It's too small for me to read.  Is it saying "Warning: you're likely to spend a lot more of your money on other recordings if you listen to this music"?

See the first paragraph here:  https://musicweb-international.com/classrev//2009/Jan09/Sibelius_biscd191517.htm

PD

[Irons]

What does the warning say?  It's too small for me to read.  Is it saying "Warning: you're likely to spend a lot more of your money on other recordings if you listen to this music"?

Along the lines of high dynamic range can damage speakers.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Remember when Telarc released that recording of the 1812 Overture with those very "prominent" canon booms?

PD

[krummholz]

See the first paragraph here:  https://musicweb-international.com/classrev//2009/Jan09/Sibelius_biscd191517.htm

PD

403 Forbidden...

[Mapman]

403 Forbidden...

The clickable link is broken. Copy and paste the full url, or try this link.

[Madiel]

The problem is an extra slash in the middle of the URL.

[kyjo]

Further adding to the evidence that there are so many hidden gems in Sibelius' catalogue are the early (mostly late-1880s) works for piano trio contained on this disc:



The music contained on this disc completely exceeded my expectations! It contains unmistakable premonitions of the mature Sibelius and has freshness, wit, and memorability in spades. There's two Piano Trios contained here - the Loviisa in C major and the Korpo in D major. The latter is particularly remarkable for its strikingly imaginative and substantial (15 min.) Fantasia slow movement and its delightfully folksy finale. There are numerous shorter works for piano trio contained on the album as well, the most notable of which are the the strikingly dramatic and harmonically adventurous Allegro in D minor and the humorous, even bizarre Alla marcia in C major. Really, this disc is a must for all Sibelians, and the performances are excellent to boot! I look forward to exploring more of his early chamber output.

[Scion7]

OH, MY!

The (very young) Chapel-Hill radio announcer just commented on the Swedish composer Sibelius's piece they played ...

Watches for 71 dB to have a gran mal seizure ... 

[Madiel]

Well, Swedish-speaking...

[Roasted Swan]

Well, Swedish-speaking...

and you think the announcer was aware of that nuanced difference.......

[DavidW]

Well, Swedish-speaking...

Time to listen to Kullervo bork bork bork!!

[DavidW]

OH, MY!

The (very young) Chapel-Hill radio announcer just commented on the Swedish composer Sibelius's piece they played ...

Watches for 71 dB to have a gran mal seizure ... 

Atterberg, Sibelius... same thing right?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

OH, MY!

The (very young) Chapel-Hill radio announcer just commented on the Swedish composer Sibelius's piece they played ...

Ouch!  Ouch!  Ouch!

and you think the announcer was aware of that nuanced difference.......

I don't think so! 

PD

[Madiel]

and you think the announcer was aware of that nuanced difference.......

Did I say that?

Ibland är det skönt att tänka det bästa om människor.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Did I say that?

Ibland är det skönt att tänka det bästa om människor.

I wonder if the young host was working at a college radio station?  In any event, I suspect that he/she has probably already found out they were wrong (by either a supervisor, friend, listeners, etc.).  Hopefully, they'll keep on listening to music and wanting/trying to learn and grow.  Heck, to be fair, we've all made mistakes (and I know that I'm not too old to keep on making them--as in I'm still alive; at least I think so....others might disagree).

PD