BaL 28.01.17 - Sibelius: Tapiola Op. 112

[pastoralguy]

Finally getting the opportunity to listen to this BaL. Very good survey, imho, although I don't think the final choice ousts my favourites of Karajan and the mighty Berliner Philharmoniker as well as Gibson and the SNO.

[visualnickmos]

Finally getting the opportunity to listen to this BaL. Very good survey, imho, although I don't think the final choice ousts my favourites of Karajan and the mighty Berliner Philharmoniker as well as Gibson and the SNO.

Is that HvK's 1975 DG, or his EMI? (he recorded it at least twice, I think for EMI?)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is that HvK's 1975 DG, or his EMI? (he recorded it at least twice, I think for EMI?)

Twice with both companies, visnick - about one every decade: 1950's HMV, Philharmonia; '60s DG BPO; '70s HMV, BPO; '80s DG BPO ...

... '90s, DG VPO - in some universe or other out there!

[visualnickmos]

Twice with both companies, visnick - about one every decade: 1950's HMV, Philharmonia; '60s DG BPO; '70s HMV, BPO; '80s DG BPO ...

... '90s, DG VPO - in some universe or other out there!

Thanks - no stopping him, was there!

[Hornspieler]

Confession time (well, we seem to be into that on the forum right now): not a piece I think I know, but I may well recognise it as soon as I hear the first few bars.Easier and quicker for me than for others here to do a BeefO-type immersion as I find I have only three versions, all as fillers to symphony sets.

Colin Davis: Boston SO (Philips Duo incarnation; the original LPs I replaced were a babysitting thank you present from friends who went to Boston; not sure if they actually heard any Sibelius while they were there)
Colin Davis: LSO (RCA set)
Paavo Berglund: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (EMI incarnation; I think BeefO has confused his orchestras or elevated Bournemouth to city status!)

Not the only thing you don't know, apparently.

To quote the famous words of President Harry S Truman:

"If you've got nothing to say, don't say it!"

HS

[Pulcinella]

Not the only thing you don't know, apparently.

To quote the famous words of President Harry S Truman:

"If you've got nothing to say, don't say it!"

HS

??

Oops! Have I touched a raw nerve?
I thought that Bournemouth lost its bid to become a city.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/9588576.Bournemouth_loses_bid_for_city_status/

Even if it didn't, Beefo initially credited the wrong orchestra, so I'm not sure I see what you're getting at.

[Bryn]

... To quote the famous words of President Harry S Truman:

"If you've got nothing to say, don't say it!"

HS

Thoroughly upstaged by Cage's "I have nothing to say/ and I am saying it/ and that is poetry/ as I need it".

[silvestrione]

Thoroughly upstaged by Cage's "I have nothing to say/ and I am saying it/ and that is poetry/ as I need it".

Or Beckett's "the expression that there is nothing to express, nothing with which to express, nothing from which to express, no power to express, no desire to express, together with the obligation to express."

[HighlandDougie]

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.

Setting aside one's reaction to Andrew Mellor's tendency to hyperbole and listening to Segerstam (which has eventually arrived), I think that Jayne's description of the piece - and of the merits of the performance - hit the nail on the head. Pace Karajan, Beecham, Rosbaud, Kajanus et al, I think that it is the best recording of the work I've heard. The coupling (Lemminkäinen Legends - a work for which I have a great fondness) is pretty good, too.

[Barbirollians]

Resuscitating this old thread I was surprised to read in the Barbirolli performance record A Career Recorded that it is suggested that Barbirolli never conducted Tapiola . I am sure a forumite was certain he did at Belle Vue . It seems a very surprising omission considering how devoted he was to Sibelius.

[smittims]

It's always dangerous to assert that any musician 'never' performed a piece. For instance , Beecham did once at least conduct Sibelius' third symphony. Wanting to commit it to disc is of course another matter. And then there's opportunity. I think Barbirolli would have liked, ideally , to have made more complete opera recordings, for instance.

[silvestrione]

A recent Gramophone Collection on this piece chose Karajan's last recording as the one, which I have yet to listen to, though I've enjoyed his earlier ones. On more recent versions, Richard Whitehouse goes for Vanska and the Lahti Sym Orch., rather than Segerstam/Helsinki, which is described as having a 'more hectoring tone' than Segerstam's earlier one with Danish Radio S, and then Linntu/Finnish RSO. The lack of one by Barbirolli is lamented in passing.

JLW's characterisation of the piece as quoted in 114 above is just marvellous!

[cloughie]

Resuscitating this old thread I was surprised to read in the Barbirolli performance record A Career Recorded that it is suggested that Barbirolli never conducted Tapiola . I am sure a forumite was certain he did at Belle Vue . It seems a very surprising omission considering how devoted he was to Sibelius.

I don’t know of a recording of En Saga by him or the full Leminkainen Suite ( only the Swan and Lem’s Return)

[richardfinegold]

A recent Gramophone Collection on this piece chose Karajan's last recording as the one, which I have yet to listen to, though I've enjoyed his earlier ones. On more recent versions, Richard Whitehouse goes for Vanska and the Lahti Sym Orch., rather than Segerstam/Helsinki, which is described as having a 'more hectoring tone' than Segerstam's earlier one with Danish Radio S, and then Linntu/Finnish RSO. The lack of one by Barbirolli is lamented in passing.

JLW's characterisation of the piece as quoted in 114 above is just marvellous!

I have that Karajan Tapiola. Originally it was on an lp with En Saga, and it was my first exposure to both pieces, and a record that I played often until my records were destroyed in a flood until the mid eighties. The En Saga imprinted me-I still haven’t heard another that gets my pulse up as much when the coda arrives. The aforementioned Karajan/Berlin Tapiola was also my ideal until I finally heard it live, with Vanska leading the CSO. It was overwhelming. I think everyone in the audience reached for their winter coats because we felt as though the Norse God had turned us into ice sculptures. The Vanska Lahti recording is now my go to, but truth be told doesn’t have the same impact as that concert-but then that is an impossible standard.
I now have the Karajan on Blu Ray Audio, and it was sold with standard CDs in the same package

[silvestrione]

I have that Karajan Tapiola. Originally it was on an lp with En Saga, and it was my first exposure to both pieces, and a record that I played often until my records were destroyed in a flood until the mid eighties. The En Saga imprinted me-I still haven’t heard another that gets my pulse up as much when the coda arrives. The aforementioned Karajan/Berlin Tapiola was also my ideal until I finally heard it live, with Vanska leading the CSO. It was overwhelming. I think everyone in the audience reached for their winter coats because we felt as though the Norse God had turned us into ice sculptures. The Vanska Lahti recording is now my go to, but truth be told doesn’t have the same impact as that concert-but then that is an impossible standard.
I now have the Karajan on Blu Ray Audio, and it was sold with standard CDs in the same package

I may be wrong, but that sounds like the Karajan EMI version, with En Saga (which has a wonderful clarinet solo at the end). The really late Tapiola is a digital DG, one of his last.