As part of our occasional series ‘Me and my Sibelius’, an interview with the conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste, made by Sibelius One in Cologne in December 2015, is now available.
Interview with Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Category Archives: News
Sibelius discography: help wanted
A Sibelius discography is being compiled that will be made available via this website.
In the interests of making this discography as complete as possible, all Sibelius enthusiasts and Sibelius One members are invited to send in details of recordings in their collection and we shall add the information to what is already on file here.
At present work is in a preliminary stage. As soon as possible we shall make available a file listing those recordings already included, and alternative methods of submitting information.
In the meantime, if you would like to send details of your discs already, we would ask for as much as possible of the following information to be included:
- Work title and opus/JS/HUL number
- If only part of a work is performed, please specify which part(s)
- Soloist(s)
- Ensemble/orchestra
- Chorus
- Conductor
- Recording date
- Live recording?
- Release date
- Record label and catalogue number
- Format (e.g. LP, CD, mono/stereo)
- Country of release
- Any other relevant information
Please send the information to Ian Maxwell (click here).
Thank you very much for your help!
Would Sibelius Lie to You (Quiz)
Sibelius Medal awarded to Pekka Helasvuo
The Sibelius Medal of the Sibelius Society of Finland has been awarded to Pekka Helasvuo.
The medal was presented by Lauri Tarasti, outgoing president of the Sibelius Society of Finland, at a reception in Hämeenlinna Town Hall on Saturday 5th December 2015 as part of the Sixth International Jean Sibelius Conference.
Pekka Helasvuo, Licentiate of Music, has worked as a violinist in the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor and principal lecturer of orchestral and chamber music studies at the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. His subject of licentiate work was the Orchestration of the Songs by Jean Sibelius (Sibelius-Academy, Helsinki 2007). Helasvuo is currently working as an editor of the string orchestra works (Series III) for the critical edition of Jean Sibelius works (JSW).
This was the last presentation of the Sibelius Medal in its current form. A new design of medal will be used from 2016 onwards.
Christel Lee wins Sibelius Violin Competition
Christel Lee has won the 11th International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in Helsinki. The prize winners are:
1st prize €25 000 Christel Lee, USA
2nd prize €18 000 Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Austria
3rd prize €12 000 Friederike Starkloff, Germany
Three other finalists, Mayumi Kanagawa (USA), Minami Yoshida (Japan) and Nancy Zhou (USA), received a prize of € 2000 each.
The Foundation of Helsinki Conservatory of Music awarded a special prize of €3000 to Emmanuel Tjeknavorian for the best interpretation of Sibelius Violin Concerto
The City of Järvenpää awarded a special prize of €2000 to Friederike Starkloff for the best interpretation of a commissioned piece in second round. The commissioned piece was one of the award-winning pieces from the Jean Sibelius Composition Competition 2015.
The best Finnish contestant Pekko Pulakka received the special prize from Yleisradio: an invitation to make a recording for Yle.
Christel Lee will perform at the following concerts in December:
- with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor Hannu Lintu, at the Jean Sibelius 150th Anniversary Concert in Hämeenlinna on 8th December.
- with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor John Storgårds, on 10th December in Birmingham and 12th December in Dublin.
Source: www.sibeliuscompetition.fi
Sixth International Sibelius Conference, Hämeenlinna 2015
The Sixth International Jean Sibelius Conference will take place in at Verkatehdas in Hämeenlinna, Finland, from 4th to 8th December 2015.
The conference will gather eminent scholars from all over the world with a wide variety of presentations on many different aspects of Sibelius’s life and music.
The presentations, which will take place in two parallel sessions throughout, will be as follows:
- James Hepokoski: Early Sibelius, Primitivist-Modernism, ‘News of War’
- Les Black: Dorian Departure
- Aare Tool: Jean Sibelius and the Modes of Limited Transposition
- Benedict Taylor: Monotonality and Scalar Modulation in Sibelius’s Tapiola
- Philip Ross Bullock: Sibelius Reception in Britain, 1901–1939: Centre Periphery in the Musical Construction of the North
- Laura Gray: The Tipping Point and the Rise of the Sibelius Cult in England
- Helena Tyrväinen: Sibelius and the French Press in the 1920s: Initiatives, Mediators and Interpretations
- Edward Clark: Sibelius and contemporary composers
- Martti Laitinen: Why Kajanus went to St Petersburg
- Vesa Kurkela and Olli Heikkinen: Sibelius as popular composer: Music by Sibelius in Kajanus’s popular concerts
- Vesa Sirén: (topic to be determined)
- Kaarina Kilpiö: Soundtrack for ‘The New Military Branch’. Jean Sibelius’s music in Finnish propaganda films during World War II
- Charris Efthimiou: On the instrumentation of bass and melody line in Jean Sibelius’s early symphonic poems (1892–1894)
- Pekka Helasvuo: The formation of the mode of expression of dynamic and articulation markings in the notation of Jean Sibelius
- Juhani Alesaro: Analyzing Sibelius’s Satz
- Barry Wiener: Dahlhaus’s Paradigm and Sibelius Reception
- Ferruccio Tammaro: War-Symphonies and Peace-Symphonies: Sibelius’s Fifth
- Antonin Servière: Reflecting Sibelius’s Legacy in Today’s Composer’s Mind
- Nors S. Josephson: Sibelius at the Crossroads: Old Paths Leading To New Creative Departures in His Second Symphony (1901–1902)
- Sakari Ylivuori: From a Bon vivant to a War Hero – The Narrative Structure of Sandels (Op. 28)
- Lauri Suurpää: Unconfirmed Pastoral and Denial of Threat in the Slow Movement of Sibelius’s First Symphony
- Olli Väisälä: Sibelius’s Revision of the First Movement of the Violin Concerto: Strengthening Tonal Structure while Removing Tonal Clichés
- Kimmo Sarje: Sibelius and the Modern
- Ron Weidberg: Sibelius and Schoenberg
- Daniel Grimley: ‘I sing another song’: Sibelius, Hofmannsthal and the Subjectivities
of Jedermann - Ilkka Oramo: Sibelius’s Eighth Symphony – fact and fiction
- Marc Vignal: Sibelius and Mahler
- Jorma Daniel Lünenbürger: Jean Sibelius and the Cello
- Tuija Wicklund: Sibelius and Böcklin
- Anna Pulkkis: Sibelius’s Loulou Andantino – a Souvenir Composition with a Mystery
- Timo Virtanen: Sibelius’s Sketches for the Violin Concerto
- Gustav Djupsjöbacka: There are several ways of putting it
- Carola Finkel: The metamorphoses of Svartsjukans nätter
- Sanna Iitti: The Representation of Emotions in the songs Våren flyktar hastigt and Svarta rosor
- Leah Broad: Forests, Fires, and Factories: Sibelius and the Mechanical
- Eero Tarasti: How Sibelius Became Sibelius – Observations and Notes on the Emergence of His Style
- Tim Howell: Jean Sibelius: Progressive or Modernist?
- Tim Jackson: ‘The Company You Keep’: Recipients of the Honorary Doctorates from the 1936 Heidelberg Celebration – Sibelius and Those Honoured Alongside Him
- Mart Humal: Sibelius’s Incidental Music for The Tempest: Ariel’s Five Songs as a Cycle
- Veijo Murtomäki: Did Sibelius mean (some of) his miniature opuses to be taken as suites?
- Andrew Barnett: The BIS Sibelius Edition
- Benjamin T. Hilger: Sibelius’s Second Symphony Recordings – Tendencies of conducting within history
Among numerous live music performances that will take place during the conference is a concert by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu, featuring the winner of the Eleventh International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition. The works to be performed are Tapiola, the Violin Concerto and Symphony No. 2. To check ticket availability for the concert: click here.
On the organizing committee of the conference are Erkki Korhonen (chairman), Andrew Barnett, Anna Krohn, Veijo Murtomäki, Eero Tarasti and Timo Virtanen.
Violin Concerto: Original Version performance material released
The Berlin-based publisher Robert Heinrich Lienau concluded a publishing contract agreement with Jean Sibelius in 1905. The first work included in the agreement was the Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47. After being criticized at its first performance on 8th February 1904, the concerto was withdrawn for revision. Out of respect for the composer’s intentions, the early version from 1904 could previously only be made public on rare occasions.
In keeping with the work carried out on the Jean Sibelius Complete Works Edition, and in order to meet the great interest of professionals in the 1904 version, the composer’s heirs and publisher have now decided to release it. This is a significant step not only for academia but also for performers and the public.
The early version of the violin concerto is generally regarded as more dramatic, virtuosic and Beethovenian than the revised version, as well as being harsher and more jagged. It exerts a peculiar charm and, together with the revised version of 1905, provides a unique insight into the workings of the composer.
Performance materials for the original 1904 version are available from:
Robert Lienau Musikverlag,
Am Dornbusch 24–26,
D-64390 Erzhausen, Germany.
Tel.: +49 (0) 6150 – 86775 – 0
website: musikverlag-lienau.de
e-mail: hire@musikverlag-lienau.de
Source: Robert Lienau Musikverlag Press Release
Sibelius 150th Anniversary Concerts in London
Two concerts featuring the Finnish soprano Mia Huhta will take place in London to mark the 150th anniversary of Sibelius’s birth, at Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington.
First there will be an all-Sibelius concert on 6th December 2015 (Finnish Independence Day) at 6.30 pm. This will feature I Maestri Orchestra, conducted by Miguel Esteban & George Hlawiczka, and Mia Huhta will be the soloist in Luonnotar.
A second concert will take place in the same venue on 10th December at 7 pm. This will be a chamber concert at which Mia Huhta will be joined by Beatrice Philips (violin), Kati Raitinen (cello) and Bengt Forsberg (piano). Works to be performed include the Theme and Variations for solo cello (JS 195), Malinconia and Sibelius’s own piano arrangement of Finlandia.
Mia Huhta remarks: ‘For a long time my dream has been to give a recital in London that combines the musical legacy of Jean Sibelius and great chamber musicians. For Finland Sibelius was in his lifetime – and still is – a national treasure. We have chosen a wonderful collection of works by Sibelius. Songs represent a far more important side of his creative activity than is generally appreciated. The violin was his own instrument and his brother
Christian played the cello, which is a natural reason for very intimate and also experimental expression.’
Mia Huhta began her studies in classical singing in the Conservatory of Ostrobothnia in Kokkola, Finland, continuing at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. She has participated in numerous song competitions both in Finland and abroad; she has won the Vox Unica, Kangasniemi and Pentti Koskimies competitions and gained a special prize in the Lappeenranta song contest in 1996 and 1999. Both at the Wigmore Hall competition in London and at the Queen Sonja competition in Norway she reached the semi-finals. She works regularly with major Finnish orchestras and conductors and is often heard in opera. She has given many premières of Finnish vocal works, including Mikko Heiniö’s church opera Riddaren och Draken (The Knight and the Dragon), P.H. Nordgren’s Te Deum, Paavo Heininen’s Suomalainen laulukirja (Finnish songbook), Lotta Wennäkoski’s Ilta hurmaunut and Eero Hämeenniemi’s Laulun synty. She has also recorded extensively.
Listen to Mia Huhta singing Sibelius’s Säv, säv susa: click here.
I Maestri is a unique organisation that helps talented young conductors hone their skills through a programme of workshops, masterclasses and public concerts. Created in London in 2001 by music director George Hlawiczka and with the help of their patrons, Sir Neville Marriner and Jorma Panula, I Maestri enables conductors to work with professional musicians drawn from the ranks of the London orchestras, chamber ensembles and music colleges. Its inspiration was the Helsinki conducting academy under Jorma Panula and the Pierre Monteux Academy, where generations of conductors were nurtured because of having ‘an instrument’ to work with on a regular basis. The orchestra is also open to excellent amateur musicians who have the opportunity to play next to expert colleagues.
Bengt Forsberg is one of Sweden’s leading musicians, with a busy career encompassing solo piano performance, chamber music, conducting and piano accompaniment. He has maintained a long-standing musical partnership with the mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, resulting in many recordings including songs by Sibelius for the BIS complete Sibelius project.
Kati Raitinen has been solo cellist of the Royal Swedish Opera since 1995. She is an active chamber musician and with her string trio she has recently won the interpretation prize from the Swedish Royal Music Academy, given by the King of Sweden.
Beatrice Philips enjoys a busy freelance life as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral player, leader and teacher. She is founder and artistic director of the Lewes Chamber Music Festival. She has played at numerous festivals, has broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and plays regularly with many leading ensembles in London.
Programme, 6th December:
Karelia Suite, Op. 11
Luonnotar, Op. 70
The Swan of Tuonela and Lemminkäinen’s Return from ‘Lemminkäinen’, Op. 22
Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 52
Finlandia, Op. 26
Venue:
Holy Trinity Church, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London SW7 2BA
Orchestral concert: 6th December 2015, 6.30 pm
Chamber concert: 10th December 2015, 7 pm
Northern rock…
Sibelius Humoresques in London
Sibelius’s rarely heard but exceptionally appealing Humoresques for violin and orchestra, Op. 87 and Op. 89, will be played at a London concert by Fenella Humphreys and Sinfonia Tamesa (leader: James Maggs) conducted by Tom Hammond on 14 November.
These pieces capture, as Sibelius’s biographer Erik Tawaststjerna observed, ‘the lyrical, dancing soul of the violin’. Sibelius himslf said of the Humoresques that they show ‘the anguish of existence… fitfully lit up by the sun’.
Also on the programme is Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony.
Sinfonia Tamesa is a London-based symphony orchestra founded in 2001. Directed and conducted by Tom Hammond, it is known for programming adventurous, challenging new repertoire alongside better-known orchestral works to produce interesting, accessible concerts.
Date: Saturday 14 November 2015
Time: 7.30 pm
Venue: St Sepulchre without Newgate (Musicians’ Church),
Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2DQ
Tickets: £10/£8
Gothenburg’s Sibelius Birthday Tribute
Stenhammar and Sibelius in front of the old Concert Hall in Gothenburg, Sweden.
© Wikipedia Creative Commons 3.0 / Göteborgs Symfoniker
‘I regard myself as having genuine friends in Gothenburg. To have them perform my new works will always be a pleasure and an honour for me.’ — Jean Sibelius
To mark Sibelius’s 150th birthday the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra will perform a complete cycle of his symphonies under it principal guest conductor, Kent Nagano, in the Gothenburg Concert Hall, Sweden. This will be the orchestra’s first such cycle in its home city. It has previously performed cycles in 1996 in Birmingham and London.
Sibelius has long held a special place in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra’s programmes, and the composer was a close friend of the orchestra’s then chief conductor Wilhelm Stenhammar. The orchestra has performed the Second Symphony more than 150 times.
The concert series will begin on 29th November 2015 (6 pm) with a chamber concert by musicians from the orchestra, narrated by the actress Nina Zanjani. The programme will include music for violin and piano, string trio and quartet. The symphonies will be spread over three concerts on 2nd–4th December (each at 7.30 pm): Nos 3, 6 and 7 on 2nd December, Nos 1 and 5 on 3rd December and Nos 4 and 2 on 4th December.
Until 4th December there will also be a Sibelius exhibition in the Gothenburg Concert Hall.
The orchestra has also published a video of Sibelius’s Valse triste arranged for six double basses and performed by Charles DeRamus:
Further information (in Swedish): click here.
or contact Stefan Nävermyr, tel. 0046 31-726 53 45 stefan@gso.se
Source: Göteborgs Symfoniker