Prom 42: Sibelius – Symphonies 3 & 4 (16.08.15)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30
Royal Albert Hall

Julian Rachlin, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov, live at the BBC Proms, continuing the Sibelius celebrations with his 3rd and 4th Symphonies and Violin Concerto.


Sibelius: Symphony No. 3 in C major
Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor
Michael Finnissy: Janne (BBC commission: world premiere)
Sibelius: Symphony No. 4 in A minor

Julian Rachlin (violin)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov (conductor)

The Proms Sibelius symphony cycle continues with the concise, intricately wrought Third and the darker Fourth - once described by conductor Herbert Blomstedt as 'an essay in trying to be happy which fails - on purpose'. These are paired with the composer's popular Violin Concerto with Lithuanian soloist Julian Rachlin. Conductor Ilan Volkov is a passionate champion of today's composers and here premieres a new 'fantasy-portrait' of Sibelius by Michael Finnissy - a composer whose increasingly direct musical voice draws particular connections to politics, society and culture.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It's good to have a new work in an otherwise one-composer concert.

[Pabmusic]

I love the third symphony.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I love the third symphony.

[Pabmusic]

I conducted it once, but only in a workshop.

[richardfinegold]

Seconded

[Roehre]

thirded

[Tony Halstead]

thirded

fourthed very enthusiastically.
My favourite recording: (Sir) Alex Gibson with the (then) Scottish National Orchestra, coupled with a superb, blindingly inexorable 7th symphony. I still have the 'Saga' LP with its crackly surfaces.. surely a candidate for a CD remastering?
NB This is NOT the later Chandos version recorded in the rather boxed-in 'SNO Centre' but probably made in the early/ mid 1960s in either the Dundee Caird Hall or maybe even in the legendary and much-lamented Glasgow St Andrew's Hall (sadly burnt down and never rebuilt, just like the London Queen's Hall).
The 'sound of the hall' on this LP ( maybe first issued on a label called 'Waverley'?) is beautifully spacious but also quite detailed, rather reminiscent of some of Decca's Kingsway Hall / Kenneth Wilkinson productions but with a wider 'sound stage'.

[Bryn]

fourthed very enthusiastically.
My favourite recording: (Sir) Alex Gibson with the (then) Scottish National Orchestra, coupled with a superb, blindingly inexorable 7th symphony. I still have the 'Saga' LP with its crackly surfaces.. surely a candidate for a CD remastering?
NB This is NOT the later Chandos version recorded in the rather boxed-in 'SNO Centre' but probably made in the early/ mid 1960s in either the Dundee Caird Hall or maybe even in the legendary and much-lamented Glasgow St Andrew's Hall (sadly burnt down and never rebuilt, just like the London Queen's Hall).

That 3rd is to be found on YouTube, by the way:

as is the 7th for the same SAGA LP issue.

[pastoralguy]

fourthed very enthusiastically.
My favourite recording: (Sir) Alex Gibson with the (then) Scottish National Orchestra, coupled with a superb, blindingly inexorable 7th symphony. I still have the 'Saga' LP with its crackly surfaces.. surely a candidate for a CD remastering?
NB This is NOT the later Chandos version recorded in the rather boxed-in 'SNO Centre' but probably made in the early/ mid 1960s in either the Dundee Caird Hall or maybe even in the legendary and much-lamented Glasgow St Andrew's Hall (sadly burnt down and never rebuilt, just like the London Queen's Hall).
The 'sound of the hall' on this LP ( maybe first issued on a label called 'Waverley'?) is beautifully spacious but also quite detailed, rather reminiscent of some of Decca's Kingsway Hall / Kenneth Wilkinson productions but with a wider 'sound stage'.

I wonder what happened to these 'Waverly' tapes. There's a very good Prokofiev 5 from circa 1963 and a DSCH Festival overture from around the same time that I have on Lp and a 7" single. EMI also has Gibson/SNO Sibelius which, afaik, has never made it to cd. While we're at it, there's a good Elgar 2 from Boult on EMI that's never made it beyond Lp.

An old fiddle player in the orchestra told me that after a long day of recording Sibelius, the producer asked to lay in a couple of bars whereupon the orchestra groaned. "What do you want to be?", asked Gibson. "An internationally regarded orchestra or a provincial band".

The response was predictable...

[teamsaint]

I conducted it once, but only in a workshop.

Sounds fascinating Pabs.
Were the acoustics good?

[Tony Halstead]

I wonder what happened to these 'Waverly' tapes. There's a very good Prokofiev 5 from circa 1963 and a DSCH Festival overture from around the same time that I have on Lp and a 7" single. EMI also has Gibson/SNO Sibelius which, afaik, has never made it to cd. While we're at it, there's a good Elgar 2 from Boult on EMI that's never made it beyond Lp.

An old fiddle player in the orchestra told me that after a long day of recording Sibelius, the producer asked to lay in a couple of bars whereupon the orchestra groaned. "What do you want to be?", asked Gibson. "An internationally regarded orchestra or a provincial band".

The response was predictable...

'Wow' I have now just found in my collection another great Gibson/SNO Sibelius LP:
Karelia Overture; The Bard; Festivo; King Christian II Suite'.
The LP is a 'Capitol' one which I now remember buying in New York many years ago. The recorded performance of the King Christian II Suite is particularly important in that it preserves the amazingly 'bright and trumpet-like' playing of the SNO's principal clarinet player at that time, KEITH PEARSON, who later moved to the RPO in London, and then - desperately sadly - took his own life while on tour with the RPO.

It's interesting that in the 'sleeve note' on the back of the LP cardboard cover, that very perceptive writer and critic MALCOLM RAYMENT opines that pretty well all these Sibelius pieces were - in effect - 'light music' - with the exception of THE BARD.
I have wonderful memories of Malcolm Rayment, who used to ask me (sometimes at very short notice) to go and review various concerts for the Glasgow Herald during the period 1966-1970 when he was either too busy or too tired to go and review them himself!
Malcolm was apparently a formidable composer himself and I regret that so far I haven't either heard or played any of his music.

[Pabmusic]

... While we're at it, there's a good Elgar 2 from Boult on EMI that's never made it beyond Lp....

Is this the one you mean (lovely version)?:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/1956-Nixa-Westminster-Stereo-Recordings-3CD/dp/B003IEAMWG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1439160426&sr=8-2&keywords=boult+westminster

There's also a recording with the SNO from the early 60s, issued originally on Waverley. Now that certainly has not been issued on CD

[Pabmusic]

Sounds fascinating Pabs.
Were the acoustics good?

Acoustics not bad (it was in the hall of Wrekin College at Wellington in 2001?). The players came for a full weekend (ie: five sessions - Friday evening, Saturday morning & evening, Sunday ditto). They were mainly from two amateur orchestras, but did include ex-Halle, ex-Liverpool, ex-Manchester Camerata, and ex-Bournemouth players, as well as several very good peripatetic teachers.

The weekend wasn't only on Sibelius 3 - it was more of a 'fun' chance to tackle some works you rarely come across in the amateur world. We did a Dittersdorf symphony (The Fall of Phaeton) and Ives' The Unanswered Question, as well as some light stuff (Ring of Kerry Suite - Peter Hope). The Sibelius had mixed reactions - some people (string players often) just don't enjoy playing Sibelius. Others did, though.

[Once Was 4]

fourthed very enthusiastically.
My favourite recording: (Sir) Alex Gibson with the (then) Scottish National Orchestra, coupled with a superb, blindingly inexorable 7th symphony. I still have the 'Saga' LP with its crackly surfaces.. surely a candidate for a CD remastering?
NB This is NOT the later Chandos version recorded in the rather boxed-in 'SNO Centre' but probably made in the early/ mid 1960s in either the Dundee Caird Hall or maybe even in the legendary and much-lamented Glasgow St Andrew's Hall (sadly burnt down and never rebuilt, just like the London Queen's Hall).
The 'sound of the hall' on this LP ( maybe first issued on a label called 'Waverley'?) is beautifully spacious but also quite detailed, rather reminiscent of some of Decca's Kingsway Hall / Kenneth Wilkinson productions but with a wider 'sound stage'.

I contacted an old colleague from Opera North who had previously played in the Scottish National Orchestra for several years (I think that you may know him Tony) and he responded as follows:

"I think the SNO's Waverley association started after the St Andrew's Hall destruction. The Sibelius recording was made perhaps a year or two before I joined the orchestra in 1967 and, with the Gibson Prokoviev 5, Boult Elgar 2 and a few other Gibson items, it may have been done in the Usher Hall. Whether Waverley ever recorded in the "Glasgow Concert Hall", the old cinema on Argyle St, I don't know, but the street noise would have made it difficult".