Sibelius - Orchestral Works [Jarvi-Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra]

One of the treasured Sibelius 'recital' discs in my collection, this fills gaps that otherwise take many discs, the two well known pieces are Valse Triste and Tapiola, and both are welcome here, but it's the other stuff which is so enlightening, especially Scene With Cranes and The Bard, Sibelius has some lesser known little masterpieces if you look beyond his Violin Concerto and the Symphonies, this makes me want to explore him even more, this is a regular little appearer in my Blog [8th July 2010 & 2nd December 2012].

Neeme Jarvi is Estonian, he's now 77, this recording was made in made in 1992-1995, i guess a compilation of a number of other discs, the front cover shows a bleak water / forest-scape [photo by Sally Mayman], all black & white and minimalist, and yet superbly symmetrical, for once the DG yellow logo gives a great splash of colour, and actually adds to the picture, one of the best front cover pictures i've seen, and of course it certainly goes well with Tapiola, with a mysterious brooding quality.

Well like i said above it was tracks 1-2, 4 & 7 that were the best, so i guess this time i would like to explain my newfound love of Scene With Cranes, it's a mini masterpiece, starts with quiet high strings, very endearing, but then is pierced with six cries of the mystical cranes [1:15-2:04], represented by the clarinets, piercing and out of tune of sorts, the music returns to the beginning and starts up again, in the second part it sounds like the tremolos of a solo viola [3:25+], and ends gently, it's short at five minutes, but it packs an atmospheric punch, i'm glad i got to know this today.

Here's Segerstam playing Scene With Cranes on YouTube.

Sibelius - Violin Concerto [Zukerman/ Barenboim-London Philharmonic Orchestra] 

As i was listening to this, i thought 'this is my most favourite Violin Concerto', and quite possibly it is, it's truly a work of genius, when i first heard it, all the different elements sounded as if they were glued together and you could easily see the seams, now i feel that the whole thing sounds as if it's carved from one lump, this disc has got some tremendous play in my Blog [17th May 2012 & 10th April 2011].

Pinchas Zukerman is from Israel, though now he lives in North America, he's now 64 years old, he recorded this work in 1975, the front cover photograph is one of the most stunning visual discs i own [photo by Gerd Weissing], a sunburst from behind a cloud, the dappled light on the water, and the gorgeous colours, it actually looks like a Sibelius landscape!, also the box with the lettering, and the logo top left, add a nice splash of colour, the final product is truly stunning.

Sibelius - Violin Concerto [Kremer/ Rozhdestvensky-London Symphony Orchestra] 

Another Sibelius Concerto that finds it's way into my Blog for the first time, plus it's only the second time i've ever played it, the Schnittke work is very unfamiliar to me, and it's still a work in progress for me, i really do need to listen to it a lot more, but of course the Sibelius it famously known, Kremer also recorded this Concerto with Muti [which i also have], i would recommend both, and however much i play this work, it's still such a joy to return to it again, and this was certainly the feelings today.

Gidon Kremer is Latvian, he's now 66, this recording was made back in 1977 when he was 30, the front cover photograph is a lovely silhouette, taken indoors, Kremer studying a score of music, violin in hand, and framed against a draped window, the atmosphere is terrific, and a real piece of stunning photography, also the lettering on the right is well laid out, and using different colours for the two Composers creates a nice differentiation, altogether a superb visual product.

Sibelius - Orchestral Works [Jarvi-Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra] 

What a wonderful disc this is, this works on all sorts of levels for me, Sibelius discs of his shorter works on disc are available aplenty, but so many seem poorly programmed, there's discs of his most 'famous' pieces [especially 'Finlandia'], and a lot of these just seem the same programme, this was is excitingly different, with a good mix of famous and lesser known, i'm thankful for getting to know 'The Bard' because of this recording, Sibelius was quite a master at the Tone Poem, and his later Symphonies prove that he was having a hard time with composing in the Symphonic form, but he seemed ideal for these smaller forms, this disc has the added worth of a good quantity of music [71 minutes].

Neeme Jarvi is Estonian, he's now 75, and he recorded this disc not as a programme, but this was culled from a number of other discs, so the recording dates are 1992-1995, the booklet front cover [photo by Sally Mayman] is absolutely fantastic, a black & white shot of a flooded birch grove i guess, very very symmetrical, a sparse shot of no real focus, but almost endless tree trunks, the symmetry works both horizontal and vertical, and for once the obtrusive DG logo is actually a blessing, creating a wonderful dash of colour, the lettering very neatly done, a great visual product.

In playing this disc today, i was thrilled by 'En saga', a great piece with some very inventive rhythms, but even more i was just stunned by the closing piece 'Tapiola', it the longest thing on this disc [just over 20 minutes], a dark and foreboding piece, when Sibelius wrote it, he gave a clue to the psyche of the piece in these words,

Widespread they stand, the Northland's dusky forests

Ancient, mysterious, brooding savage dreams

Within them dwells the forest's mighty God

And wood sprites in the gloom weave magic secrets

Here's Jarvi conducting 'Tapiola' on YouTube.

Sibelius - Violin Concerto [Mullova/ Ozawa-Boston Symphony Orchestra] 

Well what can i say about yet another version of the Sibelius Violin Concerto, i've always wondered, is there a certain 'saturation point', where you get so familiar with a work that it no longer excites?, this is the fourteenth time that this Concerto has been in my Blog, and the first for this version, i can count seventeen versions i own, to some that might well seem an overkill, but i still find that each one brings a fresh perspective to the work, and certainly Mullova is a Violin superstar, and well worth hearing her interpretation. 

Viktoria Mullova is Russian, she's now 52, and she made this recording in 1985, the front cover photo [by Gianni Viviani] is of course really staged, it would be better if they were just smiling and looking into the camera, but the shot is well done, very good lighting, and the lettering at the top is nicely symmetrical.

Well, looking through my past entries of Sibelius's Violin Concerto, it always seems that the central Adagio Di Molto always shines the brightest in my heart, in listening to this work today, i found each movement the equal of the other, the last movement doesn't get the proper recognition it deserves, i hardly talk about it, after the beautiful slow movement, it certainly breaks that lovely spell when the jaunty start of last movement comes in, maybe a sense of 'sacrilege' in my mind, for me it takes a while to get going, and mainly it's that jauntiness of the violin at the beginning, it's not far off a solo, the orchestra provides almost only a background rhythm [0:00-1:25] the violin really is centre stage, even though the Concerto is in D Minor, the final movement is in D Major, and yet it sounds troubled in many ways, the whole movement has this chugging dance like rhythm to it, technically it's really difficult, a movement of violin fireworks, i like the build up and forte between violin and orchestra [3:24-3:48], notice how the violin slurs down the strings [3:30], that's a good effect, also i like the rasping of some unknown brass instrument [5:02-5:30], i like the high treble interplay that Mullova brings off nicely [6:07-7:21], taking the music almost to the end, the very end is abrupt, a nice finish.

Here's Mullova playing the Concerto on YouTube, the last movement starts at [24:25].

Sibelius - Violin Concerto [Repin/ Krivine-London Symphony Orchestra] 

Another Sibelius Violin Concerto, i think this is the fourteenth of my Blog, but it's one of my favourite Violin Concerto's, but my love of this work can easily take regular listening, and i love the way each Soloist / Conductor can take a different path, and oftentimes there's a new insight to be had, and this is a good coupling, another nice little disc in my collection.

Vadim Repin is Russian he's now 41, he made this recording in 1994 when he was 23, the front cover photo [by Thomas Muller] is a nice portrait of Repin, with a nice dark background that accentuates the violin and face, nice neat and well placed lettering.

It was the wonderful first movement that i found compelling, nicely paced at the beginning, the undulating strings ghost in as if out of the mist, and Repin is quiet and restrained, mysterious and icy at first, a great start, the thing about Sibelius's concerto is that it can see very 'bitty', like loads of small bits taped together, and i think that Krivine sits back and becomes the 'accompanist', and maybe the performance could really do with pushing Repin hard, make him work / sweat for his pay, it towards the end that some nice things happen, after a huge forte, the oboe has a tremendously aching tune [12:10-12:28], what a lovely sense of nostalgia that gives!, and right at the end there's bowing fireworks coming from Repin [14:17-15:34].

Here's Vadim Repin playing the first movement on YouTube, Valery Gergiev conducting.

Sibelius - Symphony 2 [Jarvi-The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra] 

This is Sibelius's best Symphony, a work of genius, he fills this Symphony with excitement and invention, each of the four movements have superb tunes, the brass especially are at the fore, recorded superbly on this recording, the 'warning' on the front is a bit naive / silly, but it's no joke that the recording is tremendous, a great Symphony can be spoilt by a poor recording, i'm re-listening to this now, and it's hard to concentrate on typing, i just want to listen, i played this work / disc early in my Blog experience [1st April 2010].

Neeme Jarvi is Estonian, though he has now emigrated to America, he is 75, he recorded a cycle of Sibelius Symphonies for BIS, he recorded this disc in 1983, the front cover photo is by Goran Algard, a nice shot, but i'm not wowed by BIS front covers.

The first and second movements were tremendous, but the fourth movement sums up everything that the Symphony is trying to do, culminating in one of Sibelius's most gut wrenching and satisfying endings, Sibelius welds the last two movements together, and creates a 'dam' build up that just breaks into the finale [5:59+], on this recording the two movements are fused into one track listing, so i will give the timings for the track, and timings minus the third movement as well, like i said all this energy is unleashed, with the brass blasting out a sort of rhythmic beat, dot dot dot, dot dot dot, etc [5:59-6:27 / 0:00-0:28], with the trumpet making some nice noise, crystal clear in this recording, halfway through there's again that tremendous build up, that unleashes its force just like before [12:16-12:44 / 6:17-6:45], and right at the end there's one helluva tremendous brass fanfare [17:42+ / 11:43+], and i just love the way the high brass steal in [17:53-18:36 / 11:54-12:37], and really power up into a climax [18:20 / 12:21], an ending that leaves you breathless.

Here's Takeshi Ooi conducting the fourth movement on YouTube.

Sibelius - Violin Concerto [Kremer/Muti-Philharmonia Orchestra] 

Well from one Kremer disc from yesterday, to another Kremer disc today, it's good to hear him again, this is the twelfth time that Sibelius's Violin Concerto gets into my Blog, but the first time for this disc, in fact this is the first time i've played this disc, yet another Ebay purchase, and quite a rare disc, it's coupled with the Schumann Concerto, a work that hasn't really taken to the core repertoire, but it's good to have listened to this today, a work which certainly needs more listening to get into.

Like i said yesterday, Gidon Kremer is Latvian, he's now 65, he made this recording in 1983, the front cover photograph is a good one, a good duo portrait, in jackets and sweaters, nicely lighted, nice contour shades on the faces.

It was the first movement which moved me the most, it's recorded in a somewhat reverberant acoustic, but everything seems clear and precise, Kremer paces the opening nicely, when the orchestra come in forte it's a great moment [5:34-6:30], especially the two powerful brass explosions [5:48 & 6:19], nice and rasping for the second one, the bassoon at the end of the first cadenza is a nice touch by Sibelius [9:34-9:50], the way it bridges things nicely, three quartets the way through there's a strong tutti from the orchestra [11:20-12:15], again lots of rasping brass, and right after there's a sad solo oboe [12:16-12:35], it's just the perfect denouement after the brass forte, Kremer plays some lovely high treble notes, ending on a nice trill [13:48-14:25], the closing moments are thrilling, especially from the orchestra [15:30-15:38] in the background.

Here's SoYoung Yoon playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto on YouTube.