The Snowshoed Sibelius

[Elgarian]

Blimey.

Can anyone get the video to play?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

I watched it earlier.


http://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/Soiko+HSfin+videolla+Sibeliuksen+kadonnut+sinfonia/a1305548269034


Simply click on the rectangle under the photo.

[North Star]

Cool stuff, pity it wasn't a whole symphony. In the interview, Timo Virtanen says that it's estimated to be from the end of 1920s or the 1930s.

[DavidRoss]

Where's Deryck Cooke when you need him?

[Dundonnell]

BBC4 tonight carried a performance of "Kullervo" with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis.

Well worth catching up with on BBC IPlayer if you are in the UK. Davis is, of course, a superb Sibelian

I have always loved "Kullervo" for its sweep and passion and could never understand Sibelius's own apparent disdain for this work of his relative youth, especially given that he penned some pretty ordinary, actually pretty banal, choral music in later life.

[Cato]

The November 25th Wall Street Journal has an article about unfinished artworks called The Romance of Unfulfillment by Terry Teachout.

It contains a link to a Finnish performance of what might be sketches of the destroyed Eighth Symphony.

http://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/Soiko%20HSfin%20videolla%20Sibeliuksen%20kadonnut%20sinfonia/a1305548269034

For the article:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203611404577046104131124334.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5

[Karl Henning]

Nice timing . . . my mp3 player just shuffled onto Night Ride & Sunrise, Op.55 played by the LSO led by Antal Doráti.

The Segerstam/Helsinki Phil is another beauty of a performance . . . must load that one up, too, at some point . . . .

[snyprrr]

Salonen conducting Sibelius 4 on YouTube:

NIIICE!! Salonen's granitic and slightly 'evil' facade as his hands sweep out the tempo,... NIIICE!!

[Karl Henning]

Salonen conducting Sibelius 4 on YouTube:

What, not even a link? . . .

[DavidRoss]

What, not even a link? . . .

http://www.youtube.com/v/60PGX0RzUvU

IIRC, youtube has Salonen conducting the SRSO in most if not all the symphonies.

[Karl Henning]

Thanks, Dave!

EDIT :: And very nice.

[Brian]

I finally found a Sibelius Second that's propulsive enough and hard-driving enough to satisfy me. Szell/NYPO, a live radio broadcast on Naxos Music Library, clocking in at 39:56... finally an account with the momentum and inevitability I was looking for. A pity about the mono radio sound though.

Does anybody know of a stereo account that's similarly bracing in its pulse?

[jlaurson]

I finally found a Sibelius Second that's propulsive enough and hard-driving enough to satisfy me. Szell/NYPO, a live radio broadcast on Naxos Music Library, clocking in at 39:56... finally an account with the momentum and inevitability I was looking for. A pity about the mono radio sound though.

Does anybody know of a stereo account that's similarly bracing in its pulse?

If you respond to Sibelius like that, I urge you NEVER to get into porn.

[Brian]

If you respond to Sibelius like that, I urge you NEVER to get into porn.

Hah!

Perversely, as Sarge will tell you, my taste in Sib 2 is for 'extremely fast' while my taste for Sib 5/6 is 'extremely slow.' Something about the inertia and faux-pastorality of the Second's first movement, as it is usually played, got me wondering a long time ago what the movement would sound like if it were played with the neoclassical coolness and briskness of the Third Symphony, and that curiosity has yet to abate. For some reason no performers seem keen to see it in that cooler but more volatile light.

[Sergeant Rock]

I finally found a Sibelius Second that's propulsive enough and hard-driving enough to satisfy me. Szell/NYPO, a live radio broadcast on Naxos Music Library, clocking in at 39:56... finally an account with the momentum and inevitability I was looking for. A pity about the mono radio sound though.

Does anybody know of a stereo account that's similarly bracing in its pulse?

The other Szell recordings are a bit slower but they do have drive, momentum and inevitability. Check out Järvi, too, whose last movement is particularly bracing.


                                                                     I          II     III       IV         TOTAL
Szell with the Cleveland, live from Toyko   9:17  12:53  5:52  14:18     42:20
Szell with the Concertgebouw                   9:24  12:40  5:45  13:41     41:30
Jarvi Gothenburg                                        8:48  13:54  5:57  12:59     41:38


Sarge

[eyeresist]

                                            I          II     III       IV         TOTAL
Szell with the Cleveland, live from Toyko   9:17  12:53  5:52  14:18     42:20
Szell with the Concertgebouw                   9:24  12:40  5:45  13:41     41:30
Jarvi Gothenburg                                        8:48  13:54  5:57  12:59     41:38

Berglund (Helsinki cycle): 8:53, 12:43, 5:50, 12:25  = 39:51

[Brian]

Berglund (Helsinki cycle): 8:53, 12:43, 5:50, 12:25  = 39:51

And I'd love it, only my disc is defective and stops in the final coda

[eyeresist]

And I'd love it, only my disc is defective and stops in the final coda

Very sorry to hear that, though I'm sure you can "remedy" the situation *nudge nudge*
Berglund's is my favourite recording, and I don't think it's especially fast - it's just that everyone else is too slow.

[jlaurson]

January 4, 2011 - The Swedish label BIS Records is set to release the first recording of the Minnesota Orchestra's Sibelius symphonies series, featuring the Finnish composer's stirring Second and Fifth Symphonies. Conducting the recording is Music Director Osmo Vänskä, whose Sibelius interpretations have earned international acclaim.  The disc, the newest chapter of the highly-praised collaboration between BIS, Mr. Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra, is available starting January 13 through the Orchestra's website, minnesotaorchestra.org.  It will also be available in stores and as a download on major online music sites.

[jlaurson]

Side Notes: Paavo Berglund & Sibelius Meet Again

http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2012/01/side-notes-paavo-berglund-sibelius-meet.html#more