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stalhandske
12-Apr-13, 00:55
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 Sibelius
Swans were Sibelius' favourite animals (birds) and it is claimed that a pair of whooper swans circled several times low over his home at the time of his death in September, 1957.
As an introductory contribution, I'd like to post the piece "The Swan of Tuonela", which is part of "Four Legends from the Kalevala", the old Finnish epic captured and written up in the 19th century. Tuonela is Kalevala's equivalent of Hades; here the island of the dead.
This 9 min piece with solo by English Horn (cor anglais; you know, the close relative to the oboe) is one of the most beautiful musical pieces I know. I hope you like this, too.
www.youtube.com
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Welcome Stalhandske
to this club!!. Your Sibelius is intriguing, Beautiful,and Sad all at once. What do we know about this Composers ideas?
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stalhandske
12-Apr-13, 11:40
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Sibelius' ideas
We know very little despite a lot of research and analysis. Sibelius was a very withdrawn man with regard to his music and its background. It is known that he strongly disliked any ideas that his music would be descriptive. It is also known that he was extremely self-critical. I recall that his 7th and last symphony was written in the early 1920's and he wrote virtually nothing after 1930! There were strong indications that he had his 8th symphony almost or even completely made, but that he burned it all one night in his open fireplace. He often also changed his products into new versions and strongly objected against performing the original. That is what happened to his one and only violin concerto. The old version was fortunately found and there is now a recording of both versions - a very interesting difference, small but yet significant - the VERY rarely played original version was much rougher.
A small unimportant detail that nevertheless bothers me, perhaps some of the American Club Members can help? Sibelius visited the USA in 1914. He gave several concerts in the East, and the brief period in NYC he stayed at "Hotel Essex". For many years I thought that was equivalent to the present "Essex House" hotel on Central Park South, where I have stayed several times. But, I was wrong! The latter was built in the 1930's!
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stalhandske
20-Apr-13, 03:15
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Violin concerto (first version)
Here is the very rarely played original version of Sibelius' violin concerto (from 1904), performed and recorded by the excellent violinist Leonidas Kavatos.
www.youtube.com
It is even more taxing than the revised version (which is considered one of the technically most difficult violin concertos), and a little longer. It was only relatively recently that Sibelius' descendants allowed this version to be recorded. Janne himself would have vigorously objected!
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stalhandske
20-Apr-13, 03:23
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Violin concerto (final version)
and here is the final version from 1905 (the original was actually from 1903, but first performed a year later), played by the same violinist, so that you can make a better comparison between the two versions
www.youtube.com
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1ST VERSION
I like the 1st version better though not by much.
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stalhandske
20-Apr-13, 07:40
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Interesting!!
The original version indeed seems more spontaneous, rough, and rich in variations that have been deleted in the 2nd version. On the other hand, someone else might say that the 2nd (=official) version has less deviations from the main subject and hence more elegance and consistency. I can only guess why Sibelius made those changes, and making those guesses the chances I'm wrong would be high, so I wont
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on another note...2nd movement. 8th
an almost childlikeTeasing, www.youtube.com.
When i here this piece i smile and often laugh. He is teasing us!!!
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stalhandske
20-Apr-13, 08:35
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Teasing
though this is in the wrong thread (should be in Beethoven), I agree that the 2nd movement is like a joke. Another thing I noted here is that the cellos are placed in the centre and the altos on the right (seen from the front), which is (apparently) rare nowadays but was exactly what I was accustomed to in the early 1960's.
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