Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Kalevala

Sibelius Birthday Tribute Finnish Music

All hail Finland’s great composer! Happy birthday, Jean Sibelius!

Sibelius wrote a ton of music inspired by the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. Join me for one of the lesser known of these, tomorrow night on “The Lost Chord,” at 10:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org. The program will also include works by Robert Kajanus and Uuno Klami.

Cigars and vodka all around!

Here’s Kajanus conducting Sibelius’ Symphony No. 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kaz56nbwns

I was playing this recording when Sibelius’ grandson fortuitously wandered into my bookshop in, I believe, 1998. A formula for instant friendship!

IMAGE: “Kajustaflan,” painted by Akseli Gallén-Kallela. Pictured (from left to right): the artist, composer Oskar Merikanto (blacked out), Robert Kajanus and Jean Sibelius.

More about “The Symposium,” with the original version of Gallén’s painting, here:

http://www.sibelius.fi/english/elamankaari/sib_symbosion.htm

Party on, gentlemen!

December 8, 2018
Kalevala’s Music Sibelius & Finnish Epic

I realize Lemminkäinen and Väinämöinen are not easy names to get your mouth around at 6:00 in the morning. Don’t worry, I’ll handle the incantations if you agree to carry my broadsword.

This morning on WPRB, it’s a full playlist of music inspired by the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic. The fantastic and heroic tales inspired Jean Sibelius to compose some of his greatest works.

But Sibelius was not alone in being influenced by this cultural juggernaut, which, like the mysterious and generative Sampo at the core of its rather wayward narrative, has had the effect of granting untold riches to its native land.

We’ll hear Kalevala-inspired works by Väinö Haapalainen, Robert Kajanus, Uuno Klami, Leevi Madetoja, Aarre Merikanto, Einojuhani Rautavaara, and of course Sibelius himself.

I hope you’ll join me, as we light 151 candles for Sibelius this morning, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’re nothing if not polysyllabic, on Classic Ross Amico.

December 8, 2016
Kalevala Epic on WPRB for Sibelius’ Birthday

Grab a sword and join us on our quest to retrieve the Sampo from the evil residents of North Farm. Tomorrow morning on WPRB, to coincide with the anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), we’ll have a full morning of music inspired by the Kalevala.

The Kalevala, a collection of fifty long narrative poems, is regarded as the Finnish national epic. Its fantastic and heroic tales informed the work of Finland’s greatest artists at a time when the country began to surge toward independence after 700 years of Swedish rule and an additional century as a duchy of the Russian Empire.

We’ll hear music from a variety sources, although of course Sibelius, who throughout his career returned again and again to the Kalevala for inspiration, will feature most prominently. Less well known, perhaps, beyond the borders of Finland, will be works like Robert Kajanus’ “Aino Symphony,” Uuno Klami’s “Kalevala Suite” and Einojuhani Rautavaara’s “The Myth of Sampo.”

We’ll have all of these and more tomorrow morning. It’s definitely going to be epic, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. What we lack in polish, we’ll make up in Finnish, on Classic Ross Amico.

December 7, 2016

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