It’s Kalevala Day! Be stoic, everyone:
http://www.finland.ro/public/default.aspx?contentid=299691&nodeid=38122&culture=en-US
Ormandy conducts Sibelius’ “Four Legends”:
Bernstein conducts “Pohjola’s Daughter”:
PHOTO: Steadfast old Väinämöinen and the giant pike
Just when you thought that was all for Sibelius…
Over the weekend, Norman Lebrecht shared this transcription for guitar of the composer’s “Ekloge,” from his “Four Lyric Pieces,” Op. 74, originally for piano.
While we’re on the topic, ‘tis the season – here are Sibelius’ “Five Christmas Songs,” Op. 1. The fourth of them, “Give me no splendor, gold or pomp,” is the most famous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eklDX_VHTl4
More about the Christmas songs and Christmas with the Sibelius family here:
http://finland.fi/christmas/christmas-with-the-sibelius-family/
If you hunger for something a little more substantial from the Nordic countries, I wrote a lengthy appreciation of the Icelandic Yule Lads over the weekend, but since I didn’t post it until 9:00 on Saturday night, it went largely unnoticed. I didn’t want to hold it until Sunday morning, since the Lads descend from the mountains to commence their holiday torments on the night of December 12. Scroll down my Facebook page to learn more. It’s a real time-killer and certain to brighten your workday.
Here’s a direct link:
PHOTO: Joulupukki, the Finnish Santa
For the last 30 years of his life, Sibelius was gripped by what became known as “The Silence from Järvenpää.” Järvenpää is the Finnish market town outside which the composer made his home, which he called Ainola (after his wife, Aino, who in turn was named for a character in the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic).
After the completion of the 7th Symphony and the tone poem “Tapiola” in the mid-1920s, Sibelius created no more major works, though he grappled with the composition of an 8th symphony, which he eventually destroyed. He spent his later years being lionized by visiting conductors and listening to performances of his music over the radio.
Until then, however, he wrote prolifically, and this morning on WPRB, we’ll have another chance to sample from his unique output, with major works like the symphonies, of course (we have yet to hear Symphonies No. 2, 6 and 7), but we’ll also listen to some of the tone poems, miniatures, and reams of incidental music he composed for the Swedish Theater in Helsinki.
Our guests this morning will be Melissa Malvar and Fernando Malvar-Ruiz of The American Boychoir, who will be dropping by at around 7:30 to tell us a little bit about the group’s upcoming Christmas concert, “Home for the Holidays,” a Princeton tradition, which will take place at Richardson Auditorium on December 20 at 4 p.m.
Otherwise, it’s wall-to-wall Sibelius, as we wrap up loose ends from the sesquicentennial celebrations of his birth, on December 8, 1865. Join me from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM or at wprb.com. We’ll rail against The Silence, on Classic Ross Amico.
#Sibelius150 #12DaysOfSibelius
PHOTO: Sir Thomas Beecham drops in on Sibelius
We continue our celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius (which occurred on December 8, 1865). Right now, we’re in the middle of an hour of his final masterworks, including incidental music from “The Tempest,” the tone poem “Tapiola,” and the Symphony No. 7.
Then at 10:00 we’ll ricochet back to one of his early successes, “Four Legends from the Kalevala,” in a fantastic recording with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
It’s all-Sibelius until 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.
#Sibelius150
PHOTO: Sibelius with Eugene Ormandy
When is too much enough? Clearly NOT when it comes to Jean Sibelius.
Even as the music world is sleeping off yesterday’s sesquicentennial anniversary bash, Classic Ross Amico is gearing up for Part II of its #Sibelius150 celebration.
Last week’s playlist was not intended to be a “Part I.” However, the positive feedback received by way of Facebook, via email, and through genuine, old-fashioned, face-to-face conversation had a kind of chemical reaction with the immediate regret I felt at the end of last week’s show of not being able to get around to so much of the music I had wanted to share. Thus, the idea for an ambitious follow-up was spawned.
Last Thursday, we enjoyed classic recordings of Symphonies Nos. 3, 1, 4, and 5; this week, we’ll hear great performances of Symphonies 6, 2, and 7, and possibly even the original 1915 version of No. 5, which is in many respects quite a different piece from the finished (or Finnished?) masterwork of 1919.
And of course, we’ll have plenty of other surprises, many in superb recordings, along the way.
How much Sibelius is too much Sibelius? Tune in tomorrow morning from 6 to 11 ET to test your stoic endurance, on WPRB 103.3 FM or at wprb.com. It ain’t Tapiola until it’s Tapiola this week, on Classic Ross Amico.
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