Sibelius Kullervo on BBC Four tonight.

[johnb]

Even the continuity announcer, in her introduction immediately before the programme, said there would be Kullervo and Finlandia.

What a hopeless crew they appear to be.

[Anna]

Sorry, I sound like a total eejit, I had my nose in a book and half an ear and a quarter of an eye, not paying attention. What was actually broadcast as opposed to what should have been?

[Barbirollians]

Kullervo was broadcast but Finlandia wasn't .

Now by any chance is your recording of the Sibelius Concerto that by forum favourite Ida Haendel with the serenades ?

[secondfiddle]

The broadcast is very welcome indeed but does anyone know when it dates from? It looks as though the BBC has pulled it out of the archives - Colin Davis looks markedly younger and the picture is 4:3, so it must be at least 10 years old.

The performance dates from 6 December 1992 when it was part of the LSO's 'Tender is the North' season. The original broadcast included Finlandia!

[LeMartinPecheur]

Why is Caliban's bottle so large, does Sibelius listening require huge amounts of it?

Anna: listening to Sibelius sober works perfectly OK, but the writing of Kullervo probably needed a good few Caliban-sized bottles!

If you saw the painting of Sibelius, Kajanus and others deep in their cups that featured in Beale's last programme you'll get the picture - Sibelius had a big alcohol problem for most of his life. Turning up drunk for a public concert and then stopping the orchestra as if it was still a rehearsal put paid to his conducting career, on which he often relied for income.

[Nick Armstrong]

Why is Caliban's bottle so large?

Actually, you can tell by the relative size of the cap that the bottle's a miniature, I think...! It's just a rather large photo! You know what they say....

[Ventilhorn]

Well, that horrible boxy Barbican sound didn't help, but really - compare this to Berglund, Vanska or Salonen and there's no contest. Until the choir and soloists came in we got Sir Colin's usual generalised one-pace vigour with undercharacterised playing and far too little dynamic contrast. The Helsinki University Chorus brought it alive as it always does. Hyninen was excellent, and Isokowski was good too, though the balance with orchestra wasn't always very helpful. And the final peroration was botched.

For me, the definitive version of Kullervo (which is just as much a symphony as some of Mahler's huge choral extravaganzas) is by Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; which was recorded in Southampton Guildhall by HMV in 1970.

I say this, not because I happened to be playing in that recording, but because Paavo Berglund was a pupil of Sibelius - almost an adopted son, and if anyone knew what Sibelius intended, it has to be him. The fact that this recording was given a special award in its year of issue, (1971?) is sufficient reason for my belief.

This way of doing Sibelius has been surpassed by the new generation of Finns that has come up in the last 20 years. They understand the music's wildness and extremities in a way that, for me, Davis doesn't get.

Yes, Robert, but Berglund, not part of the new generation of Esa Pekkas, Vanskas,Salonens et al, set the standard for others to follow.

It is interesting that the composer himself did not wish the work to be performed at all and I believe that in fact the first performance took place after his death; but no doubt Roehre will be able to correct me on this statement.

VH

[Roehre]

It is interesting that the composer himself did not wish the work to be performed at all and I believe that in fact the first performance took place after his death

That 2LP-set was (and is) my preferred performance of Kullervo (and IIRC was -in 1971- the very first complete recording).

Kullervo was premiered shortly after its completion, but the vocal soloists were hardly to be heard.
Whether Sibelius immediately decided to put the score into a drawer, I don't know.
But in 1893 sibelius decided against performances during his lifetime. However, he did not destroy the score.

Apart from the 3rd mvt being performed once in 1935, the first complete performance after Sibelius' death was given in 1958.

Nevertheless Sibelius must have treasured the piece: as said, the score survived.

From Kullervo's Lament he made twice a piano version (and, as he changed a couple of things, it shouldn't be considered a piano reduction): 1893 and 1917.
On top of that: a revision and reduction of the orchestration of Kullervo's Lament was probably the last job which occupied the composer shortly before he died.

[secondfiddle]

A pity if Finlandia was not included in the telecast (haven't had the chance to see it yet) because that 1992 concert ended with the choral version of Finlandia which many listeners would have been unfamiliar with.

[JoeG]

Unfortunately it was replaced with Smokey Robinson - nice voice but not the same!

[salymap]

During a few months working for Breitkopf's London agents I was surprised to see how many arrangements of 'Finlandia' there are. There are five or six arrangements of the theme alone, known as 'Be Still my Soul', which were popular. However I have yet to hear a performance of it in this country. Ditto, the full version with choir.

I'm afraid I've never heard Kullervo, although I love most Sibelius works very much. Think I've left it too late to tackle it now. Who published it,does anyone know?

[antongould]

Google suggests it was Breitkopf and Hartel?

[salymap]

Google suggests it was Breitkopf and Hartel?

Thanks anton,don't remember it in their catalogues and never requested. You know Kullervo well I suppose?
It looks heavy going to tackle, with tinnitus now.

Sibelius split his seven symphonies between 3 or 4 publishers, IIRC

[antongould]

Don't know it at all I'm ashamed to say - Google Suggests "your boys" published 1,2 and 4 plus Kullervo.

[Ventilhorn]

That 2LP-set was (and is) my preferred performance of Kullervo (and IIRC was -in 1971- the very first complete recording).

Kullervo was premiered shortly after its completion, but the vocal soloists were hardly to be heard.
Whether Sibelius immediately decided to put the score into a drawer, I don't know.
But in 1893 sibelius decided against performances during his lifetime. However, he did not destroy the score.

Apart from the 3rd mvt being performed once in 1935, the first complete performance after Sibelius' death was given in 1958.

Nevertheless Sibelius must have treasured the piece: as said, the score survived.

From Kullervo's Lament he made twice a piano version (and, as he changed a couple of things, it shouldn't be considered a piano reduction): 1893 and 1917.
On top of that: a revision and reduction of the orchestration of Kullervo's Lament was probably the last job which occupied the composer shortly before he died.

Thanks for that Roehre, The 2 LP set was issued by HMV on SLS 807.
Kullervo Symphony Op.7 was coupled with Kuolema Op.44 -Scene with cranes and SWAN WHITE - Incidental music

Recorded in November 1970 in Southampton and given subsequently in the Royal Festival Hall a few days later.

Paavo Berglund who was born in 1929 was a violinist inthe Finnish Radio Orchestra who subsequently became its Musical Director and drew international acclaim.
He first visited England in 1965 and conducted a much acclaimed performance with the BSO in the RFH Sibelius Centenary Concert series, conducting Symphonies 4 and 6. He returned to Bournemouth in 1966 and we could not understand why he was only scheduled on alternate days until we discovered that he was a great football fan and had tickets for all the World Cup matches during those days of absence.
That knowledge was reinforced when he demanded the presence of all the male members of the orchestra in Meyrick Park on the following Sunday; where he produced a football and announced that we were all going to have a game.
He made frequent guest appearences with the BSO subsequently and eventually became Chief Conductor; making many recordings of the works of Sibelius.

I had the privilege of working with him both as a player and as a producer for some of his BBC recordings.

He was a left-handed conductor - a bit disconcerting at first, but he could also play the violin left or right handed, regardless of the way it was strung.

This leads me to little anecdote, which gives an indication of his character:

A very cold morning and the leader "had a moment" of horror early on. The wind and brass sniggered with delight.
Berglund took the fiddle and bow from the leader's hands and played it perfectly left-handed! He addressed the wind players:

"You wind players can always justify a mistake by blowing into some keyholes or emptying something out. We string players have no such excusers to offer to justify the occasional slip up. Show us a little kindness!"

VH