The Snowshoed Sibelius

[Roasted Swan]

A term used in football (soccer) parlance 'play the ball not the man'.

unless you're Vinny Jones when you play the man through the ball...... or balls

[André]

 

Just finished listening to the Mäkelä set today. His Sibelius is quite fiery and passionate, sometimes relying on interventionist twists for effect (very slight note value or tempo changes within phrases can create a startling difference, as in 1:I or 5:III). Accents are used to provide sharper attack on some notes, to excellent effect (mushy attacks are the bane of good Sibelius conducting). Big, noble utterances are slightly pulled on long note values, making them sound lusher but also extra yearning and impassioned. I'm not sure the music needs the help, but better this than a too clinical approach.

The sound is what makes the most difference overall: very detailed but also quite close, achieving maximum clarity and impact. No concert hall distance blending orchestral sections. It's all up front and close, but not oppressively so. Quite magnificent I'd say, the only inconvenient being that some passages lack mystery, which is a bit detrimental to the last 2 symphonies. The 6th acquires startling power and immediacy from the get go, the introduction of I losing its usual misty dawn atmosphere. The 7th is slightly beefy and unsubtle in the first section, although the trombones are heard with impressive weight and the double basses sound absolutely HUGE.

1: a real winner, one of the best performances I've heard, passionate and refulgent. Just under Stokowski (unmatched) and von Garaguly, on a par with Sargeant and ahead of the excellent Ormandy, Barbirolli, Davis Boston.

2: a very good conception, if slightly lacking in tension. Barbirolli RPO and Szell Cleveland (live) reign supreme here. Szell Concertgebouw, Monteux LSO, Ormandy Sony are a bit more impassioned than Mäkelä, but the sound is not as fine.

3: another winner. Mäkelä gives this underrated work the stature, drive and passionate advocacy it deserves. The first movement with its galloping string figurations (shades of the finale of Schubert's 9th) is taken with gusto by the Oslo Phil strings. Best ever: Rozhdestvensky's exhilarating, punchy interpretation, with tangy winds and viciously scurrying strings. Then Mäkelä.

4: the sound here serves the conductor's conception well. Mäkelä presents it almost as a concerto for orchestra, each movement sharply lit, double basses and low winds baleful and menacing. The glockenspiel otoh is hardly noticeable. Considering the kind of sound balance favoured by the conductor/sound engineers, I would think this is intentional. Excellent in its chosen way, but I prefer the über dramatic Ormandy (1954 mono), the gaunt, implacable Karajan Berlin (EMI) or Vänskä Lahti on BIS.

5: the 3rd winner in the set. Conducting, playing and sound fit the music perfectly here. The coda of I is jaw-dropping in its power, subtly helped by an unmarked accelerando - I normally don't like a fast coda here, but this is so well prepared it sounds totally organic. At that point I was air conducting like a dutch windmill. The last movement also builds up to a triumphant, implacable conclusion. Closure is of the essence here. Some conductors seem not to know what to do with the last crescendo and the closing chords. They sometimes sound like question marks. Here they properly sound like confidently nailed exclamation marks. Favourites: Rozhdestvensky (the baleful sections truly scary), Mäkelä, Ole Schmidt, Karajan Berlin (EMI), Sargent, Davis Boston.

6: this cinderella among Sibelius' symphonies is often made to sound sunny, gentle, affectionate and playful (Karajan DG is perfect in that respect). Not so here. Like Rozhdestvensky, Mäkelä highlights the many undercurrents of doubt, unquiet and restlessness that traverse the work. It's like exploring a dark cave gleaming with myriad colours and shadows under a torch. This is an unsentimental, powerful account of the symphony, with a few surprisingly potent orchestral outbursts. The 6th is an elusive work, its character and qualities harder to discern than the other symphonies. Mäkelä tackles it head on and surprises me with its forthrightness and objectivity. For this symphony I have no clear favourite, but Karajan DG, Davis Boston, Rozhdestvensky, Mäkelä and Vänskä Lahti all impress in their chosen way.

7: possibly my favourite among the Sibelius symphonies. That one, too, is elusive and presents a constantly shifting perspective. Although in a single movement, it is clearly divided in sections. The banding on this Decca disc is in 4 tracks. Once again Mäkelä puts forth big-boned, frankly lit orchestral textures, with clear distinction between sections. The strings are strong, producing a full, deep, almost saturated sound (the very first phrase). Trombones are menacing, bright on top and deep at the bottom. The Valse triste quotation at the end is almost sinister, not wistful at all. Sometimes I had the impression I was listening to The Firebird. A very interesting interpretation. The conductor clearly thinks highly of the work, declaring in the notes it's 'the most perfect' of the lot. Here, too, no clear favourite emerges, but the 1965 Munch BSO is mandatory listening (easily found on Youtube). Uncharacteristically for this conductor the timing is on the slow side (24 mins to Mäkelä's 23 or Szell's 19), but sounds like molten lava sweeping all before it.

EDIT: Tapiola is also in this set. I've listened to it twice and am not sure what to think of the interpretation. I don't have as many points of comparison either. In this recording the big moments are very big indeed, with a frightening storm sequence and a menacing coda where the orchestra sounds like they have 40 double basses and 25 bassoons on hand - it almost sounds like they imported an organ to underpin the rest of the orchestra.

[Madiel]

Interesting commentary, thank you. I haven't listened to this set, but this makes me more interested in trying it and seeing what I think.

[vandermolen]

I'm on holiday for a week in Norfolk and, for the first time ever, I've encountered an 'Alexa' device in the converted barn where we are staying. Today I asked Alexa to play Sibelius's 2nd Symphony and am currently listening to an enjoyable performance conducted by Ashkenazy.

[Spotted Horses]

Just finished listening to the Mäkelä set today...

Thanks for your review.

My references for the Sibelius Symphonies are Karajan, Barbirolli, Maazel (Pittsburgh), Berglund (Bournemouth), Neeme Jarvi (BIS) and Blomstedt. I was anticipating listening to one of the more recent cycles and was thinking it would be Vanska/Minnesota. Maybe it should be Mäkelä.

[Roasted Swan]

I'm on holiday for a week in Norfolk and, for the first time ever, I've encountered an 'Alexa' device in the converted barn where we are staying. Today I asked Alexa to play Sibelius's 2nd Symphony and am currently listening to an enjoyable performance conducted by Ashkenazy.

I think literally one of Ashkenazy's very first recordings he made as a conductor for Decca.  Perhaps the Tchaikovsky symphonies were first but this followed pretty much straight afterwards.....  very good early digital sound as I recall as well.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I'm on holiday for a week in Norfolk and, for the first time ever, I've encountered an 'Alexa' device in the converted barn where we are staying. Today I asked Alexa to play Sibelius's 2nd Symphony and am currently listening to an enjoyable performance conducted by Ashkenazy.

Magic! 

Picking up a tin of Colman's? 

PD

[vandermolen]

Magic! 

Picking up a tin of Colman's? 

PD

[Maestro267]

Anyone else sense Tod und Verklärung energy in the 7th Symphony? Especially the big trombone sections in C major.

[Ganondorf]

No, but I do sense Tod und Verklärung energy in some of his tone poems, particularly Pohjola's daughter.

[Brian]

Saw a writer last week who alluded to the "Valse triste quotation" at the end of Symphony No. 7. (It might have been a MusicWeb writer, but I can't really remember.)

Do we know if there is really an intentional quote there? Or is it a mere passing resemblance?

[André]

Saw a writer last week who alluded to the "Valse triste quotation" at the end of Symphony No. 7. (It might have been a MusicWeb writer, but I can't really remember.)

Do we know if there is really an intentional quote there? Or is it a mere passing resemblance?

The déjà-vu feeling is striking. It's the same chord progression as the main theme of Valse triste and it appears to be entirely intentional, with a strong overlay of psychological implications. That is, if one is to believe Sibelius scholar William Pavlak in his thesis on the 7th symphony: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4495/m2/1/high_res_d/thesis.pdf . The author discusses the Valse triste quotation at some length (starting at page 261).

Sibelius's musical language was totally personal and original, never derivative of anyone else's. It's almost impossible he'd have had a slip like Strauss' quotation of Bruch's g minor concerto in his Alpensinfonie. IOW if it sounds like VT, it's because the composer intended it to be there.

[Florestan]

Saw a writer last week who alluded to the "Valse triste quotation" at the end of Symphony No. 7. (It might have been a MusicWeb writer, but I can't really remember.)

Hey, it's our own Andre here! See post #3361 in this very thread. 

[Brian]

Oops! Scrolling up is so hard    Thank you @André - leafing through that thesis now. And you have also given me an excuse to re-listen to the Alpensinfonie, which is not such a bad thing...

[(poco) Sforzando]

Just finished listening to the Mäkelä set today. His Sibelius is quite fiery and passionate, sometimes relying on interventionist twists for effect (very slight note value or tempo changes within phrases can create a startling difference, as in 1:I or 5:III). Accents are used to provide sharper attack on some notes, to excellent effect (mushy attacks are the bane of good Sibelius conducting). Big, noble utterances are slightly pulled on long note values, making them sound lusher but also extra yearning and impassioned. I'm not sure the music needs the help, but better this than a too clinical approach.  (etc.)

But Hurwitz says this set is terrible! Hurwitz, mind you! The Great Critic who knows a Ken Doll when he sees one and pays attention only to the musical facts of the recording! Surely if Hurwitz says a conductor is lacking in cojones he cannot possibly be wrong! 

[André]

Hurwitz is almost always right when he likes a composer or a recording . It's when he hates something that he's generally wrong.

[LKB]

Hurwitz is almost always right when he likes a composer or a recording . It's when he hates something that he's generally wrong.

Agreed!

[Brian]

Hurwitz is almost always right when he likes a composer or a recording . It's when he hates something that he's generally wrong.

Somewhat off-topic, but when he likes a composer/recording and I find him to be wrong, it's because he liked an hour-plus obscure late romantic symphony that calls for a gigantic orchestra with five percussionists and only one melody. 

[Florestan]

Somewhat off-topic, but when he likes a composer/recording and I find him to be wrong, it's because he liked an hour-plus obscure late romantic symphony that calls for a gigantic orchestra with five percussionists and only one melody. 

Only one, but infinite...

[(poco) Sforzando]

Hurwitz is almost always right when he likes a composer or a recording . It's when he hates something that he's generally wrong.

No, Hurwitz likes a lot of what I consider crap. Revels in it, in fact.