performed by the Sibelius Academy Quartet (So this, I think, is the first time in the series that we don’t have a video available on YouTube, but it certainly won’t be the last. As it turns out, there are about a … Continue reading Joonas Kokkonen: Quintet For Piano And String Quartet, op. 5
performed by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra under Petri Sakari, or below by the Finlandia Orchestra under Tauno Hannikainen (cover image by Andreea Chidu) Aare Merikanto was born on June 29, 1893 in Helsinki, the son of Oskar Merikanto, himself a composer. … Continue reading Aarre Merikanto: Symphony No. 3
performed by the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra under Pertti Pekkanen (cover image by Vincent Guth) (this piece is featured on a list of pieces I heartily recommend to music directors for inclusion on their season programs. Check out the article here.) This … Continue reading Einar Englund: Symphony no. 1, ‘The War Symphony’
performed by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra under Tuomas Ollila-Hannikainen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJIdnFuwD4I (cover image by Aarón Blanco Tejedor) Uuno Kalervo Klami was born on September 20, 1900 in Virolahti, in the very southeast of Finland. He studied in Helsinki with Melartin, and … Continue reading Uuno Klami: Symphony no. 1
performed by the Echnaton Trio, or below by Peter Sirotin, Violin; Michael Stepniak, Viola; Fiona Thompson, Cello (cover image by Geoffrey Datema) Today’s work is obviously a much later piece than the first symphony, with an identifiably chromatic vocabulary. Its four … Continue reading Melartin String Trio, op. 133
performed by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra under Paavo Rautio, or below with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra under John Storgards (cover image by Vincent Guth) I received a telegram from Viipuri yesterday that made my blood run cold: “Yjrö fell on … Continue reading Leevi Madetoja: Symphony no. 2 in E-flat, op. 35
performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä, or below with the Helsinki Philharmonic under Leif Segerstam Det är synd om människorna (One feels pity for human beings). August Strindberg (cover image by Radek Grzybowski) Well, we saw Sibelius a … Continue reading Sibelius Symphony no. 4 in Am, op. 63
performed by the Voces Intimae Quartet, or below by the Copenhagen String Quartet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ywncteIf7M (cover image by Hans Eiskonen) It turned out as something wonderful. The kind of thing that brings a smile to your lips at the hour of … Continue reading Sibelius String Quartet in Dm, op. 56 ‘Voces Intimae’
performed by Kreeta-Julia Heikkilä, violin; Tuomas Lehto, cello; Roope Gröndahl, piano (cover image by Cassie Boca) Toivo Timoteus Kuula was born on July 7, 1883 in Vaasa, on the west coast of Finland. He studied privately with Sibelius from 1906-1908, and … Continue reading Toivo Kuula: Piano Trio, op. 7
performed by the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra under Leonid Grin (cover image by Hannu Keski Hakuni) Erik “Erkki” Gustaf Oskarsson Melartin was born on February 7, 1875 in Käkisalmi (or Kexholm in Swedish), which since 1948 is known as Priozersk (Приозе́рск) in Russia. He … Continue reading Erkki Melartin: Symphony no. 1 in Cm, op. 30
performed by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo (cover image by Chris Brignola) Ernst Mielck was born on October 24, 1877 in Vyborg. He began taking piano lessons at the age of 10 and in 1891 moved to … Continue reading Ernst Mielck: Symphony in Fm, op. 4
(cover image by Pasi Jormalainen) The final feature of the year, the Finnish symphony series, finally! It’s a contrast to the two English-speaking symphony series we did this year, and I guess kind of a callback to the end of … Continue reading The Finnish Symphony
performed by the Belgium National Orchestra under Mikko Franck, or in the earlier two-movement version as below, by the Leipzig Radio Symphony under Max Pommer It’s another revisit. For some ridiculous reason, when this blog started, I took on works from composers … Continue reading Revisit: Rautavaara Symphony no. 1 (2003 version)
or The Wood Nymph performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä I’m excited about the next few posts for this series because they touch on a special type of tone poem. There’s nothing anywhere (that I recall) about patriotic or … Continue reading Sibelius: Skogsrået
(Spring Song) performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä If ever there was a piece that felt like one of those rare, never-to-be repeated moments in life, blue sky, sun’s warmth on your back, in a picture-perfect landscape … Continue reading Sibelius: Vårsång
performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä En saga is the expression of a state of mind. I had undergone a number of painful experiences at the time and in no other work have I revealed myself so … Continue reading Sibelius: En Saga, op. 9
Once in a while, there’s a thing that you look so forward to that you can’t even concentrate, the day seems to go by slowly, and you cannot wait for this thing you know will be so amazing to arrive. Perhaps it’s a dinner at a fancy restaurant, or a vacation, or some kind of meaningful thing; it’s different for everyone. But then when you get there and it starts happening, it’s more meaningful and powerful and enjoyable and moving than you had thought it could be. Even the highest of expectations were exceeded. Perhaps that sounds corny, but it’s … Continue reading Concert Review: Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra in Taipei
performed by the Gothenburg Symphony under Neeme Järvi (below is Järvi with the Orchestre de Paris) Quite a nice first symphony, from a composer whom I’ve come to really enjoy. He has a distinct voice among the late Romantic composers … Continue reading Sibelius Symphony no. 1 in Em, op. 39
performed by the Lahti Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä I cannot think of a better contrast to the previous Mahler symphony as this piece. Do I love it? Yes. Does it make me want to stop everything I’m doing and … Continue reading Sibelius Symphony no 3 in C, op. 52
performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle, Nigel Kennedy, violin (I recently featured this piece on a program over at my Substack. Please go read it there.) And just that fast it is 2014. This ones’s … Continue reading Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
performed by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle (or below in an equally wonderful recording with the Lahti Symphony under Osmo Vänskä) (I recently featured this piece at the end of a monthly concert program over on … Continue reading Jean Sibelius: Symphony no. 2 in D major, Op. 43
Fugue for Thought 