BaL 28.01.17 - Sibelius: Tapiola Op. 112

[Madame Suggia]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2dd00QO2HU

[Beef Oven!]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2dd00QO2HU

Thanks for posting this!

[verismissimo]

And the winner was ... ?

[HighlandDougie]

Are we allowed to say? Helsinki PO conducted by the Man Mountain (he of the slowest Bruckner 8th performance ever). And I don't mean Paavo Berglund. Really enjoyable BaL.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Are we allowed to say? Helsinki PO conducted by the Man Mountain (he of the slowest Bruckner 8th performance ever). And I don't mean Paavo Berglund. Really enjoyable BaL.

Oh - a bit too "Hello birds! Hello, twees!" gushing for me; and confused gushing at that: he made the point very clearly at the start that Finnish audiences regard the forest as a place of refuge and magical safety, but then kept passing favourable comments on performances he found "scary" - "to be listened to with the lights on" etc. Complaining that Spano treated the work "too symphonically", concerned with structure at the expense of "mood" - and then criticising others for neglecting the structural elements.

Didn't like it - but useful for hearing different versions: the Spano and Ashkenasy have gone onto my (ever-growing) Wish List.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I didn't take to the way he gave us his own thoughts on mood and nature references (angle of sunlight etc etc) as if he'd got them straight from the composer's lips. Not that I thought these poeticisms were totally wrong, but I didn't feel they were unarguably correct either. Thought-provoking maybe, except that personally I really don't listen to music this way

[visualnickmos]

Maazel - a hitherto - generally lauded recording went straight out of the window! Makes me all the more want to acquire it, for some reason!

[BBMmk2]

I have Sakari Oramo, Berglund, Collins, Gibson, Ashkenazy and Maazel. Should be rather interesting.

I don't think there is a need to get the Segerstam recording. If anything, at least the Maazel, Gibson or Ashkenazy should do! :)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I didn't take to the way he gave us his own thoughts on mood and nature references (angle of sunlight etc etc) as if he'd got them straight from the composer's lips. Not that I thought these poeticisms were totally wrong, but I didn't feel they were unarguably correct either. Thought-provoking maybe, except that personally I really don't listen to music this way

- a perfect summing-up of my own feelings, LMP

[BBMmk2]

Maazel - a hitherto - generally lauded recording went straight out of the window! Makes me all the more want to acquire it, for some reason!

You won't regret it! Go on!! :)

[visualnickmos]

You won't regret it! Go on!! :)

Just have - and thanks for the thumbs up! Looking forward to its arrival soon, I hope....

[HighlandDougie]

Oh - a bit too "Hello birds! Hello, twees!" gushing for me;

Still snorting with laughter at Ferney's - just - comment, in his defence he held my attention for the full span of the programme. Yes, he probably overdid the "Finnishness" bit (Aalvar Aalto and elemental conifers, indeed) but I liked the musical examples he provided, including Karajan and Beecham, as well as from the native Finns. And, in my unhumble opinion, no-one should waste their money on Maazel's rather superficial and unidiomatic-sounding version.

[BBMmk2]

Just have - and thanks for the thumbs up! Looking forward to its arrival soon, I hope....

I like it a lot!! :)

[Beef Oven!]

I think ferney summed it up well. I struggled particularly to understand whether the forest is somewhere Finns go to get scared witless, or a place to seek safety (not that silly stereotypes matter).

I liked his discussion of Karajan’s 1965 DG performance and the Stockholm Vlad sounded stupendous.

The winner, on the basis of his analysis, is worthy in my view. I’ve just downloaded a FLAC version from presto for £4.03. It’s c/w the Lemminkainen Suite, but I only downloaded Tapiola for that price (got more Legends than you could shake a stick at).

[kuligin]

I think ferney summed it up well. I struggled particularly to understand whether the forest is somewhere Finns go to get scared witless, or a place to seek safety (not that silly stereotypes matter).

I liked his discussion of Karajan’s 1965 DG performance and the Stockholm Vlad sounded stupendous.

The winner, on the basis of his analysis, is worthy in my view. I’ve just downloaded a FLAC version from presto for £4.03. It’s c/w the Lemminkainen Suite, but I only downloaded Tapiola for that price (got more Legends than you could shake a stick at).

I totally agree, if he mentioned woods or trees or aalto again I would have switched off, the final chord, came just in time. But the winner seemed a good choice and there were plenty of examples of others too