The ongoing Sibelius discography project has received another update. To download the latest version (free) click this link: Sibelius_Discography_20220304. For more information on the discography project and recent releases click here to visit our Discography & Recordings page.
Category Archives: News
Jaakko Kuusisto 1974–2022
The violinist, conductor and composer Jaakko Kuusisto died at the age of 48.
Kuusisto was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2020 and underwent an operation to remove it, but his condition worsened in recent months. He passed away on 23 February in Oulu.
Jaakko Kuusisto, from a prominent Finnish musical family, gained fame in the late 1980s as a violinist alongside his brother Pekka. He studied the violin at the Sibelius Academy and at Indiana University; his teachers included Géza Szilvay, Tuomas Haapanen, Miriam Fried and Paul Biss. In 1989 he won the Kuopio Violin Competition, and thereafter gained top prizes at several major competitions – including a special prize for the best performance of a new work at the Jean Sibelius Competition in 1990. In 1997 he was appointed leader of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, a post he held with distinction until 2012. During this time he participated in many ground-breaking Sibelius recordings both with the orchestra and as a chamber musician; with the pianist Folke Gräsbeck he recorded all of Sibelius’s youth production for violin and piano as well as the piano trios, piano quartets and quintets. Kuusisto also made performing versions of several pieces by Sibelius, adding missing elements to complete works that had not survived intact. Overall he was among the most frequently recorded of Finnish instrumentalists and recorded concertos by some of the most prominent Finnish contemporary composers.
As a musician he was called ‘intellectual and exploratory’ (by his former teacher Miriam Fried) and his performances were rightly celebrated for their refinement, good taste and naturalness.
Conducting and composing (notably of operas, chamber and orchestral music) came to play an increasingly important part in his career. He studied composing at the Sibelius Academy with Eero Hämeenniemi and at the Indiana University with David Dzubay. He was principal guest conductor of the Oulu Symphony Orchestra (2005–09) and became principal conductor of the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra in 2018. He also conducted his own operas at the Savonlinna Opera Festival and Finnish National Opera. As a conductor he made the world première recordings of movements and extracts from the original versions of several Sibelius symphonies, plus also his own arrangement of Sibelius’s Masonic Ritual Music, with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
Jaakko Kuusisto was artistic director of the in ‘Our Festival’ chamber music festival by Lake Tuusula (with his brother Pekka) in the years 1999–2006 and of the Oulu Music Festival from 2013 until 2021. He was also a member of the Finnish Arts Council (2016–19), and in the spring of 2021 he was elected as a councillor in Oulu, representing the Green Party.
Photos: Jaakko Kuusisto in at the Lahti Sibelius Festival in 2003 (top) and
during Sibelius recording sessions in Kuusankoski in 2005 (middle, lower)
(© Sibelius One)
New CD from Fenella Humphreys and Joseph Tong
A new recording of music for violin and piano by Sibelius bas been released by Resonus Classics, featuring Fenella Humphreys, violin, and Joseph Tong, piano.
Programme of the disc:
Four Pieces, Op. 78 · Andante cantabile, JS 33
Five Pieces, Op. 81 · Danses champêtres, Op. 106
Four Pieces, Op. 115 · Three Pieces, Op. 116
Resonus Classics RES 10294
This recording is supported by Sibelius One, in memory of George Steven.
We have a limited number of copies of this CD available for purchase by current members of Sibelius One at a heavily discounted price of £7.50 including p&p (UK only). We regret that the massive increase in administrative and customs formalities as a result of Brexit mean that we are currently unable to deliver to the EU or rest of the world. Supplies are strictly limited and orders will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis. Click here for Members’ Discount page.
Joseph Tong writes: ‘The idea [for this disc] occurred quite randomly and spontaneously when Fenella and I met at the Presteigne Festival back in 2015. We were staying with the same host family and the conversation I remember quite naturally gravitated towards Sibelius, no surprises there of course, and we decided to meet up every so often to set in motion a Sibelius project and enjoy exploring all the amazing repertoire… The sets of pieces for violin and piano are curiously neglected, yet absolutely wonderful as we discovered. It was a pleasure to record them in the warm acoustic of Cedars Hall at Wells Cathedral School… the recording dates in late-October 2020 fell just before the next period of Covid restrictions. Not having many live concerts around that time made the whole experience of Sibelius immersion even more special.’
Lahti Sibelius Festival 2022
Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Dalia Stasevska (Photo: © Taina Räty)
The Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s 23rd Sibelius Festival will be held at the Sibelius Hall in Lahti from 31 August to 4 September 2022, with Dalia Stasevska, chief conductor of the orchestra, as its artistic director. The festival will be opened by an international guest appearance of the highest calibre, when the Estonian Festival Orchestra, consisting of European musicians, will perform on Wednesday 31 August, conducted by the renowned Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi.
The Lahti Symphony Orchestra will give three concerts at the festival conducted by Dalia Stasevska. The theme of the orchestral concert on Thursday, 1 September 2022, is ‘Flora and Fauna’, and the concert will feature Pan and Echo, the concert suite from Pelléas et Mélisande, The Wood-Nymph (melodrama) and Snöfrid.
The programmes for the orchestral concerts on Friday 2 September and Saturday 3 September were originally chosen by Jean Sibelius himself. ‘In Sibelius’s time, it was typical that the première of the new work took place in a concert organized by the composer himself. This allowed composers to present their other works as well. Sibelius was especially careful to ensure that his premières took place at concerts where the repertoire consisted exclusively of his own compositions’, explains Stasevska, and continues: ‘The Friday and Saturday orchestral concerts at the Sibelius Festival are programmes chosen by Sibelius himself from 1911 and 1927. These included the Finnish premières of the Fourth and Seventh Symphonies and Tapiola. These reconstructed concerts allow us an interesting glimpse into the music of Sibelius as presented by the composer himself.
As an innovation, a family concert, ‘Melody Forest’, will also be included in the festival programme, on the afternoon of Saturday 3 September. The festival concludes with another new kind of collaboration, at Lahti Church of the Cross on Sunday morning, 4 September, with a Keski-Lahti parish church service, the musical content of which focuses on the music of Sibelius.
The festival will also feature a piano recital, and the concerts are complemented by other events such as pre-concert talks. Further details of the festival programme will be announced later and ticket sales will start in February (date to be announced) via the ticket agency Lippupiste.
Programme listing: click here.
Sibelius One Magazine January 2022
The January 2022 issue of Sibelius One’s magazine is in the final stages of production and will be sent out to subscribers during January.
To add the magazine to your membership or order back copies, please see our Magazine page (click here).
Articles in this issue:
- My 90 World Première Performances – Folke Gräsbeck
- A Beautiful Silence, this Silence of Järvenpää – Leon Chia
- New Sibelian discoveries in recent years – David Revilla Velasco
- Harty Sibelius – Kornel Kossuth
Recent Sibelius publications from Breitkopf & Härtel
Breitkopf & Härtel has released more works by Sibelius in authoritative editions.
The critical JSW edition of Symphony No. 6 is now available, edited by Kai Lindberg. The catalogue number is SON 633 and the price is €140.00. To quote Breitkopf & Härtel’s website: ‘Symphony, symphonic poem, fantasy, or something else entirely different? For a long time while working on the Sixth Symphony, Sibelius was not certain what his new orchestral work was now about to become or what to call it. He had to interrupt work on the symphony time and again during the Finnish civil war and because of financial difficulties that forced him to earn a living with “little things”. So, it is not surprising that many small ideas for other works repeatedly culminated in the Sixth. In a letter to a friend, he describes his early ideas for the work: “The 6th symphony is wild and turbulent in character. Gloomy with pastoral contrasts. Probably in 4 movements with a conclusion growing into a dark orchestral shower in which the main theme drowns.”’ Details and order page: click here.
As noted in a previous post, a volume containing all of Sibelius’s five major works for piano trio plus some shorter pieces has been released (SON 631). A full review of this volume can be found here.
A number of works have been released as separate publications, drawing on the critically evaluated texts already published in the JSW series, but without the critical commentaries. These include:
Symphony No. 4, full score, from JSW SON 635: Partitur-Bibliothek 5694
Also available as study score: PB 3326
Valse triste, full score: PB 5704
Four Part-Songs from Op. 18 for mixed choir a cappella (Sortunut ääni; Venematka; Saarella palaa; Sydämeni laulu): Chor-Bibliothek 5372
Two Part-Songs, Op. 65, for mixed choir a cappella (Män från slätten och havet; Kallion kirkon kellosävel): ChB 5373
Finlandia Hymn from Op. 26, for mixed choir a cappella: ChB 5371
Malinconia, Op. 20, for cello and piano: Edition Breitkopf 9391
New Year Quiz 2022
Our New Year Quiz 2022 is a two-part puzzle called ‘Where has Sibelius been’ – a set of multiple-choice photo questions followed by a word square.
Click this link to the quiz. Good luck!
Image: The city of Turku in 1920, the year after Sibelius conducted the first performance of his cantata ‘Jordens sång’ there. City photo: Public Domain. Sibelius image by Santeri Levas / Finnish Museum of Photography. Colourized.
Discography updated 20 December 2021
The ongoing Sibelius discography project has received another update. To download the latest version (free) click this link: Sibelius_Discography_20211220. For more information on the discography project and recent releases click here to visit our Discography & Recordings page.
Sibelius Commemorative Concert in Melbourne
A Sibelius Commemorative Concert will take place in Melbourne, Australia, to celebrate the 156th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
This free event will feature an all-Sibelius programme arranged and performed by the Inventi Ensemble and soprano Jessica Carrascalão Heard.
The event is arranged by the Melbourne radio station 3MBS and is sponsored by Geoff Hayes, a member of Sibelius One.
It will take place on Wednesday 8 December 2021 at 11:15am (for an 11:30am start) at the Good Shepherd Chapel, 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia
Programme:
Arioso, Op. 3
Suite mignonne, Op. 98a
Luonnotar, Op. 70
Concert duration: 30mins
To reserve a seat, please e-mail subscriptions@3mbs.org.au or call 9416 1035. Places are strictly limited. Book early to avoid disappointment.
All guests are required to be fully vaccinated. Please ensure you have your certificate for verification at the Chapel entrance. Face masks must be worn indoors at all times.
Source: 3MBS. Photo credits: Boroondara Arts (Inventi Ensemble); Cameron Jamieson (Jessica Carrascalão Heard)
John Davis 1929–2021
John Davis, President of Sibelius One, passed away on 27 October at the age of 92.
John was interested in Sibelius since the early 1940s, when his father took him into a music shop in Bristol bought him his first record – a 78 of movements from the Karelia Suite – just at the time that news was coming through of the Russian invasion of the Karelian Isthmus. He was heavily involved with the Torbay Recorded Music Society for over half a century and co-ordinated large music groups travelling in the UK and internationally.
John’s first ‘live’ concert experience was watching Sir Henry Wood conduct Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony in the Pump Rooms in Bath in the early part of the war. His parents were both musicians, his mother being a former LRAM piano tutor (her pièce de résistance was the Sibelius Romance in D flat major – his initiation into the piano world of Finland’s greatest composer) and his father a church organist. After the family moved from London to the Bristol area during the war, John’s father went around various churches repairing and tuning organs, and at this time John himself developed a keen love for and interest in this instrument. Right from his earliest samplings of classical music on disc, John was an avid fan of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Leopold Stokowski.
As well as being devoted to music, John enjoyed a distinguished career in the Royal Navy and as a driving test examiner, conducting over 32,000 tests.
After moving to South Devon, he joined the Torbay Gramophone Society (later to become the Recorded Music Society) in 1958 and soon became embroiled in its management. This led him to present programmes nationwide with subjects including Sibelius, Stokowski and music for orchestra and organ. In 1970 he was a founder of the Torbay Musical Weekends, held at the sumptuous Palace Hotel in Torquay; in this context he worked with guest presenters of the highest calibre including Sir Georg Solti and Sir David Willcocks.
In the 1960s he started co-ordinating groups to attend ‘live’ concerts across this country, particularly in Birmingham, Exeter and London. A trip to Prague to hear the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra play Má vlast by Smetana was the start of a whole series of group musical trips to Europe and the USSR.
From 2001 onwards he was a regular attendee at the Lahti Sibelius Festival, and in 2006 he also visited the Sibelius Festival on the island of Korpo. He sponsored organ pipes in both Symphony Hall in Birmingham and the Sibelius Hall in Lahti, and was privileged to attend the inauguration of the organ in the Sibelius Hall. He became President of Sibelius One when the organization was founded in 2014 and held that position for the rest of his life.
John’s knowledge of and enthusiasm for music were as legendary as they were infectious, and his good humour and kindness will be fondly remembered by all those lucky enough to meet him. He is survived by his wife Christine, daughter Julia, son Edward and four grandchildren.