Yes, indeed: today is Sibelius’ birthday – so here’s a quick blast of the master himself to celebrate…
Jean Sibelius b. 8th December 1865
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
…and, just to show there’s no hard feelings: we’ll have Finlandia as well – with a Finnish conductor, on the 100th anniversary of Finnish independence.
If you ever visit Helsinki (which you should!), I strongly recommend a visit to the very splendid Sibelius Monument.
Take an overnight ferry from Stockholm with eat and drink as much you like buffet and have a day in Helsingfors. Trevlig!
I agree, Diddley. Sailing through the archipelago is quite an experience. And you can meet some fascinating people.
Personally, I’d want an evening in Helsinki too. A day is too short.
How do you do this sailing? Cruise?
@Twang. There are car ferries that leave daily.
Viking Line
https://www.vikingline.se/
Silja Line/Tallink
https://se.tallink.com/hitta-resa?utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_term=&utm_content=se&utm_campaign=branded&gclid=CjwKCAiAs8acBhA1EiwAgRFdwwuaZqYWX-_F3DY1UNa8DGFKEUTdwZ7VxNNtELYPdCihrcvnpyP1wRoCZ6gQAvD_BwE
As well as the cars and lorries, there are also many people who do it as a weekend away, conference, party etc. There ae several restaurants on the boats and a lot of entertainment.
This will give you a taste.
I don’t know the Sibster at all. Which works should I start with?
You probably know more than you realise, @Twang: for example, At the Castle Gate from Pelléas and Mélisande
Or this brief bit of melody from the Karelia Suite
Second and fifth symphonies are crowd pleasers with the big famous finalé tunes (was it Strawberry Switchblade who stole the melody from the fifth symphony for the start of their big hit single?). I’d start with those…lots to explore, of course.
I’ve raved about Sibelius on these pages before, after discovering him for myself a couple of years ago. I waver between which of his symphonies is my favourite. Probably the fifth.
I’ve just had a 4am flashback and realised I was initially inspired to explore Sibelius (and the 5th symphony in particular) by reading about him being spoken about by none other than my perennial favourite I’m always banging on about, Mike Oldfield. In this 1995 Guardian interview Oldfield explains (naively but eloquently) the influence Sibelius’ 5th had on Tubular Bells – I love the idea that he was attempting to build melodies that are both slow and fast, and you can really hear that in Tubular Bells if you listen for it.
https://tubular.net/articles/1995_08/Essentials-Mike-Oldfield-on-Sibelius
As I believe Roy Harper has also mentioned the influence of Jean Sibelius’s Karelia Suite
Bit of cross-thread fertilisation now.
@thecheshirecat has pointed out that Mike Oldfield had a renowned Finnish bass player, Pekka Pohjola, in his touring band.
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pekka_Pohjola
He studied at the Sibelius Academy. Of course!
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taideyliopiston_Sibelius-Akatemia
There is not just classical music. They have a lot of jazz and folk music too.
Here’s the Academy’s Folk Big Band. What a find!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSReWhbWJX0&list=RDEM0spNqyemKV9_Z6kVHLRS-g&start_radio=1
Wonderfully joyous stuff!
Their album is well worth a listen.
A very eclectic range of material, from straight folk dance tunes to orchestral/choral to hard rock. Amazing arrangements and very well recorded.
https://www.discogs.com/release/7433763-Sibelius-Akatemian-Folk-Big-Band-FBB
I may have mentioned this before: I watched a tv programme about climbing a rock face in Norway, I liked the incidental music but didn’t know it. I wrote to the BBC (this was pre-internet, pre-email, etc) to ask what it was.
They wrote back – it was Uncle Herbert’s 1965 recording of The Swan of Tuonela with the BPO and they gave the catalogue number. I bought the LP – the other piece on it was Symphony number four. I was completely smitten – I was 17, I think. The “arctic” desolation of the fourth – and the dignity and sadness of the Swan – are the other face of the coin described by Arthur when he talks about the fifth. I didn’t know about the influence of the fifth on Mike Oldfield – but thinking about it now, it does make sense.
Sibelius has been my absolute favourite composer ever since (err…now about 45 years later). Auntie Beeb – a lot to answer for!
…and here’s the very toon…not a kantele in sight (sorry, KFD).
Also – Valse Triste
Have you heard Klaus Mäkelä’s take on the symphonies and the young violinist, Johan Dalene, leading on the concertos? Nearly made my top twenty albums of the year.
D’you know, the Klaus Mäkelä set is actually in my top twenty this year! Apparently the girls “saw through it”, but I wasn’t sure what that meant and I wasn’t bold enough to ask…
He splits opinion. The girls must feel he mangles all the passion out of them.
Who – Klaus Mäkelä or Lodey?
Need you ask?
You are a wag, Tigger! From this day on, for me he will always be Lodey The Passion Mangler.
I lived in Helsinki for a year in the mid 1980s.
I can’t confess to some great Sibelius epithany, but I did become rather fond of the kantele, the Finnish national instrument. It resembles a zither or a dulcimer.
It never crossed my mind to wonder whether Sibelius had written any music for it. Today I did begin to wonder.
The answer is: very few pieces. The kantele was not in favour in his time, despite the rise of Finnish nationalism. As this paper explains, it was considered uncouth.
https://fmq.fi/articles/whats-been-written-for-the-kantele
“Finnish art music used to give the kantele the cold shoulder. The instrument was relegated to the role of a prehistoric relic even in the mid-1800s, while national Romanticism was simultaneously making the Kalevala part of the national iconography. Only the modern, diatonic box kantele with 20 to 35 strings was accepted as the national instrument.”
The Kalevala is the epic Finnish national poem which every Finn studies at school.
This gorgeous piece by Sibelius seems to have been written for the piano but sounds magnificent on the kantele.
Exquisite playing by Viola Uotila.
To conclude: a very entertaining clip by Ida Elina about the evolution of the kantele.
Even if you don’t know anything about the instrument, this should amuse you, once she arrives in the 20th century.
I stumbled across this playlist of modern tracks featuring the kantele.
This fella, ex-Oysterband, also rates the kantele. Can’t find any clips of him actually playing the bugger, but here he is in a Swedish church.
Not forgetting his alignment with Oussack Mustapha of the 3 Musraphas 3.
Ray Cooper was a new name to me, (well actually, he has the same name as Elton John’s percussionist) so I wanted a little more background detail.
https://www.wildhareclub.com/8-hall-of-fame/107-ray-cooper
He has lived in Sweden since about 2010.
When he was playing bass with the OB, he was known as “Chopper”.
I went to Helsinki for my stag do. Very enjoyable. Very drunk waiters and funny bouncers.
I had funny bouncers at my stag do too.
I was listening to some Swedish Xmas music by the Jul i Folkton ensemble and I came across this gem. The ever reliable Sofia Karlsson singing Sibelius’s Xmas Song: melody by JS and Swedish lyrics by songwriter Mikael Wiehe.