BaL 28.01.17 - Sibelius: Tapiola Op. 112

[richardfinegold]

I also have several versions as I own several Sibelius cycles that include Tapiola; when I want to listen to it Karajan and Vanska fill the need, although to honor this thread I will re listen to Bergland/Bournemouth.
Perhaps Vanska/Minnesota will release an album of the more popular Sibelius tone poems and fill the High Resolution gap.
Tapiola may be the composer's masterpiece. A good recording should raise goosebumps as it evokes stunning Arctic vistas. It may also be a work that cannot be adequately conveyed by any recording, as I discovered during my one concert experience.
Rauutavara' Cantus Artcus, which I have also heard in concert, was inspired by Tapiola.

[Beef Oven!]

I think BeefO has confused his orchestras or elevated Bournemouth to city status!

I don’t know what you’re talking about

[Barbirollians]

I got to know the piece from an old HMV Concert Classics record with Beecham and the RPO on which he also conducted the Pelleas and Melisande music and I think The Oceanides . Also fond of the Ashkenazy .

[HighlandDougie]

Hannikainen's Sibelius, including "Tapiola" is available on a Magdalen 2 CD set at budget price (METCD8024). The transfers are excellent. I first got to know these performances from World record Club LPs, many years ago.

Duly ordered - I had no idea of this set's existence (and have fond memories of the WRC Hannikainen 5th) so thanks, Reinerfan, for the heads-up on this.

[Barbirollians]

Odd that there is no Barbirolli it seems .

[DracoM]

Huh! Given today's Beethoven 'choice' on Sunday Morning, they'll find a perf by Barbirolli to play between now and then whatever final choice is made on BAL

[Petrushka]

Just played Karajan's 1953 recording with the Philharmonia. I've had the Warner box which contains the recording for over a year yet I've no recollection of playing Tapiola.

It's difficult to believe that this recording is nearly 64 years old as the sound (mono, of course), is warm, rich and detailed with the climaxes opening out splendidly. It's a triumph of the re-mastering art, quite breathtaking. As is the performance, dark, brooding and powerful with a hint of menace, even fear, all wonderfully conveyed by Karajan and the Philharmonia. I don't suppose a recording of this age will make a BaL choice, no matter how superb it still sounds but I'll use it as a benchmark when assessing the others I have which I'll do chronologically.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I don't suppose a recording of this age will make a BaL choice, no matter how superb it still sounds

Keep up, Pet! An eighty-year-old's just won the latest programme (much as R3 has tried to pretend it didn't).



DracoM - I can't work out what you mean in #21.)

[Alison]

DracoM - I can't work out what you mean in #21.)

Not just me then! Was puzzling over that for some while in Costa Coffee this afternoon.

Mr Barbirolli would appear to be precisely the wrong example.

[DracoM]

Weary ref to this morning's Sunday selection by James Jolly in which should have been played was Stephen Johnson's top choice for the Beethoven Str Qt - the Busch QT, BUT Jolly played the Belcea as 'the best modern' interpretation.

Lots of stuff on threads ref that under Sat's BAL. Many posters not happy. Seems we're in a post-truth age after all, even on R3.

[jayne lee wilson]

No comment on Segerstam yet, with the Helsinki PO, which, (c/w the Legends, and highly acclaimed in Soundings on its 1996 release) I recall as having that essential dichotomy of intensity and emptiness that lies at the cold - or even absent - heart of the piece, which at times seems to need playing without feeling..(not the same as all passion spent - more an elemental indifference)... until that hinted humanity at the close.

Haven't heard it for a long time though. Otherwise it would be Lahti SO/Vanska, or Berglund, probably in Bournemouth.
Typo-count accelerating depressingly. Need a break. Soup-time!

[Barbirollians]

Huh! Given today's Beethoven 'choice' on Sunday Morning, they'll find a perf by Barbirolli to play between now and then whatever final choice is made on BAL

The reason it is odd is that he conducted it in concert and made recordings of many of Sibelius's other tone poems .

[Petrushka]

The reason it is odd is that he conducted it in concert and made recordings of many of Sibelius's other tone poems .

My memory had deceived me into thinking that Tapiola was in the Barbirolli EMI set and was surprised on examination to find it to be not there! Ditto with the CBSO/Rattle set. Somewhat disconcerted to find it absent.

[pastoralguy]

Listening to Herbie and his band playing 'Tapiola' just now from his 1964 recording on DG. Intensely atmospheric!

[AmpH]

Karajan's 1964 recording with the BPO in the Jesus Christus Kirche has long been a favourite and I could happily live with just this recording. More recently, I have enjoyed Okko Kamu with the Lahti SO on a BIS Hybrid SACD c/w The Tempest Overture / Suites and The Bard - the audio quality of the recordings are to the usual high BIS standards, at least on the CD layer which I play.