Sibelius Sixth

[richardfinegold]

I've loved most of the Sibelius for many years but until recently the Sixth seemed to elude me. I've never seen it programmed in a Concert although I have heard all the other Symphonies in concerts repeatedly.
I first started to develop an appreciation of it from a Colin Davis/LSO recording (from a Sibelius cycle that reportedly sold all of 800 copies in the US, right as the major labels started tanking their Classical Divisions), but I recently have become enamored with a DVD-A of an early 60s recording of the work 9coupled with 5 & 7) by Maurice Abravanel and the Utah SO, which I obtained for the princely sum of 99 cents.
Abravanel seems to have the perfect approach. The melodies soar with a gossamer lightness. The textures (no doubt aided by the High Resolution reproduction) are luminous. The Utah Orchestra was a third tier Orchestra at that time but their strings sound wonderful (their Concert Master as the former Boston Principal, Joseph Silverstein). Their weakness were primarily in the brass and that is not much of a liability in this work.
For comparison I played the Barbirolli/Halle, another mid 1960s recording with a Great Conductor leading a (supposedly) less than first tier Orchestra. Actually, I thought the level of Orchestral playing was very good. Certainly the brass and winds were superior to Utah, and if the strings didn't have quite the same sheen they were quite good. Although I really enjoy the rest of that Sibelius cycle, I think that Barbirolli tries to drive the music and force some climaxes, whereas with the Utah recording the music just seems to flow and the points register without trying.

[umslopogaas]

Threads like this remind me uncomfortably that recordings have a way of accumulating on the shelves - rather like dust. Perhaps its time I had a spring-clean. I have, all on LP and in no particular order:

Karajan/BPO (DG)
Berglund/Bournmouth SO (HMV)
Rozhdestvensky/USSR Radio and TV Large SO (Russian Melodiya)
Collins/LSO (Decca mono)
Karajan/Philharmonia (Columbia mono)
Davis/Boston SO (Philips)
Barbirolli/Halle (HMV)
Maazel/VPO (Decca)

I got to know the work from the Karajan DG recording and it remains a favourite, but Maazel and the VPO in classic Decca stereo sound probably beat it purely on vividness of sound. I think - someone correct me if I'm wrong - that the old Collins mono recording fell out of favour because Decca re-issued it on a cheap 'Ace of Clubs' label where the sound quality wasnt good, but I think the original Decca LP (LXT 5084) sounded pretty good at the time.

I've never seen the Abravanel recording, but that may be because it wasnt released in the UK? It would have been up against Collins and Karajan and probably wouldnt have sold enough copies to risk the expense.

[JimD]

I have always loved Sibelius's 6th, though I think the 7th has remained my favourite, for its concentrated grandeur. The 6th seems to me to be a candidate for the best exemplification of Sibelius's famous remark that he offered pure spring water.

[silvestrione]

I have always loved Sibelius's 6th, though I think the 7th has remained my favourite, for its concentrated grandeur. The 6th seems to me to be a candidate for the best exemplification of Sibelius's famous remark that he offered pure spring water.

Yes indeed, thanks for that.

This is a lovely work, beautifully played by the BPO under Karajan on DG.

[Madame Suggia]

I like this symphony very much :)

The recording that really pulled me in is on Naxos, Petri Sakari and the Iceland Symphony Orchestra

Lovely tempest suite and 7th on that disc too.

[Ferretfancy]

Yes indeed, thanks for that.

This is a lovely work, beautifully played by the BPO under Karajan on DG.

Karajan also made a beautiful mono recording with the Philharmonia. I first discovered this symphony in one of the old Sibelius Society albums of 78s, in a performance conducted by Schneevoigt and the Finnish National Orchestra, although I had a schoolboy enthusiasm for Sibelius, I found it very strange at the time.
This is a lovely,elusive symphony, with a cool quality quite unlike any of his other symphonies,with a unique and special sound of its own.
I seem to have collected nine versions. Which ones? Well, Collins certainly, and Beecham of the older versions, then perhaps Karajan or Colin Davis in his Boston recording.

We seem to be going through a dead patch where live performances of this symphony are concerned, perhaps the relative calmness of its voice doesn't appeal to the promoters of concerts, which is a pity.

[richardfinegold]

I have always loved Sibelius's 6th, though I think the 7th has remained my favourite, for its concentrated grandeur. The 6th seems to me to be a candidate for the best exemplification of Sibelius's famous remark that he offered pure spring water.

Well put. I get the feeling that I am trudging through a deep snow filled forest and arrive at a beautiful pool of water at the beginning of spring when I listen to this work.
When I listen to the 7th, and to Tapiola, I feel more threatened by the elements. The 6th is more of a balm.
I think I may actually have Karajan in my collection. I'll rummage the shelves and give it a try.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Which ones? Well, Collins certainly, and Beecham of the older versions, then perhaps Karajan or Colin Davis in his Boston recording.

Excellent choices, Ferretf - any of Karajan's three recordings, but the DG is my overall favourite. (But Barbirolli, Maazel, Vanska and Bernstein all have their own special insights - as does Segerstrom, for goodness' sake!)

We seem to be going through a dead patch where live performances of this symphony are concerned, perhaps the relative calmness of its voice doesn't appeal to the promoters of concerts, which is a pity.

It is, indeed. I love the gentle, measured passion of the work - and the pathos of the ending: the widower father sends his daughter off to her exciting new life, and after the bustle of getting everything sorted, he's left on his own at the end.

[Roehre]

...I get the feeling that I am trudging through a deep snow filled forest and arrive at a beautiful pool of water at the beginning of spring when I listen to this work.....

...and having a brilliant view across the pine forest clad slopes on top of that.

[kea]

Funny that. I find Sibelius 6 one of the most profound evocations of depression and emptiness out there—a great piece, but one I rarely listen to because it makes me feel like I've been crying for hours and the only reason my eyes are dry is because I've run out of tears. The end is heartbreaking. (At the same time, I admire his control of "rage and passion" in the piece—they do not lead to a great epiphany or a catastrophic downfall, they simply expend themselves and are gone, and leave us back where we started, as also happens in real life.)

I have Saraste/Finnish Radio Symphony which has always served me well enough, and have also heard Rattle/CBSO, though not recently enough to be able to compare.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Funny that. I find Sibelius 6 one of the most profound evocations of depression and emptiness out there—

Blimey - how do you cope with the Fourth?

At the same time, I admire his control of "rage and passion" in the piece—they do not lead to a great epiphany or a catastrophic downfall, they simply expend themselves and are gone,

and leave us back where we started, as also happens in real life.

Oh, I don't get this - the achingly beautiful pathos as the start is very different from the sense of aloneness and loss at the end for me. But then, I don't know the Sarasate recording.

[Bryn]

I am not familiar with Abravanel's Sibelius, but I very much admire his recording of Milhaud's L'homme et son desire, and some of his Mahler, so have just ordered the Vanguard set of Sibelius Symphonies in "Used: Very Good" condition for £3.25 including p&p. That's even less that I paid for the excellent Gibson recordings of the same works when I spotted them in the bargain bin at Steve's Sounds, back in the '80s.

[Dave2002]

... and leave us back where we started, as also happens in real life. ...

Goodness, we are melancholy tonight.

Maybe time for a beer or a whisky!

[CallMePaul]

I've never seen it programmed in a Concert .

The BBC Phil did the full cycle - 7 symphonies and nothing else - in 3 concerts conducted by John Storgards last year in Manchester's Bridgewater Hall. No 6 was in the last concert, sandwiched between nos 3 and 7 and it certainly did not sound the poor relation to the others. The cycle was generally well reviewed and deserves to be recorded. Why the concerts were so poorly attended is beyond me, though. The BBC Phil never gets anything like the attendances it deserves at its main home and by no means all the concerts go out live on R3 - many are recorded for Afternoon on 3 which I for one cannot listen to. R3 at work - probably a disciplinary offence !

[kea]

Blimey - how do you cope with the Fourth?

Not too well! :P I sometimes retell the story of being in a car at night (passenger, not driver) with the 4th playing on the radio—not actively paying attention to it—and noticing a growing feeling of foreboding, similar to that described by people in purportedly haunted houses. I became convinced something horrible was following us, or we were about to crash, or something, and kept twisting around to look for whatever it was. Then the music got loud enough for me to notice and I realised it was the second half of the scherzo of the Sibelius, with all its spooky tritones. Felt a little sheepish after that.

At the same time the 4th is a little easier to listen to—darker, certainly, but less subtle, whereas the 6th draws you in with moments that seem brighter and even humour (the scherzo, trying to dance but never getting off the ground) so that it hits you harder in the end. s/you/me/

Oh, I don't get this - the achingly beautiful pathos as the start is very different from the sense of aloneness and loss at the end for me. But then, I don't know the Sarasate recording.

I don't know that recordings enter into it too much. I always felt like the end brings the symphony full circle, or perhaps more accurately full corkscrew (a similar mood, but with a deeper chill settled upon it, as though a breeze that blew across the landscape at the opening has now become still, or a stream that had flowed beneath the ice has now completely frozen. If you'll pardon the flowery language) but I suppose that is subjective.

Goodness, we are melancholy tonight.

I don't know, to me it's somewhat reassuring that a brief flight of passion does not have to change you forever. I think the 2nd symphony never totally convinced me for that reason.