Coming soon from JSW: Symphony No. 6

Coming soon from Breitkopf & Härtel’s JSW (Jean Sibelius Werke) series is the critical edition of the Sixth Symphony, Op. 104, edited for the project by Kai Lindberg.

Breitkopf & Härtel’s website comments:

‘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.” The editor Kai Lindberg now presents the definitive version within the context of the Sibelius Complete Edition.

Click here for Breitkopf & Härtel’s website:
Catalogue number: SON 633 (Series I (Orchestral Works), Vol. 7:
Symphony No. 6, Op. 104 edited by Kai Lindberg
Series edited by the National Library of Finland and the Sibelius Society of Finland

Sixth Sibelius Festival Golfo del Tigullio e Riviera

The Sixth Sibelius Festival Golfo del Tigullio e Riviera in north-west Italy, in the Municipalities of Santa Margherita Ligure and Chiavari, has been  announced for September/October 2021. Its artistic director is Federico Ermirio.

The event takes place between 25 September and 4 October and features Irene Cerboncini (soprano), Massimo De Stefano and Ana Ilic (piano), Elena Cecconi (flute), Trio Gustav, the cello ensemble On the Bridge, and lecturers Federico Ermiro and Alessandra Paciotti.

Concert details (correct as of 16 July 2021):

Contact info: sibeliusfestival@gmail.com
See also the festival’s new website: www.sibeliusfestival.it

Current pandemic restrictions and rules impose a limited number of reserved seats for those wishing to attend the concerts. Reservations are required by calling (or sending a text message to) the following numbers +39 3392151696 / +39 3331721816 or using the form on this page of the festival’s website: https://www.sibeliusfestival.it/contatti. Once all available seats are booked, no further bookings will be accepted, unless the rules in force are changed.

 

July 2021 magazine has arrived

Sibelius One’s July 2021 Magazine is now ready and is being despatched to subscribers.
For more information, to add the magazine to your membership or order back issues please click here: https://sibeliusone.com/sibelius-one-magazine/

The new issue contains the following articles:

  • Khadra and Sea Change: Sibelius’s music at Sadler’s Wells – Eija Kurki
  • Sustaining the dramatic arch – Sasha Mäkilä
  • Japanese Rhapsody: Jean Sibelius, Kojiro Kobune and Akira Ifukube – Erik Homenick
  • If you like Sibelius… – Peter Frankland

Sibelius Festival in Rotterdam – Part 3

Jukka-Pekka Saraste is continuing his fine Sibelius series in Rotterdam with two further concerts in November 2021. Also participating are two of Finlan’s top singers, soprano Helena Juntunen and baritone Tommi Hakala, and the YL Male Voice Choir.


Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
Jukka-Pekka Saraste conductor
Helena Juntunen soprano
Tommi Hakala baritone
YL Male Voice Choir


Venue: De Doelen, Rotterdam
Prices from €10 to €68 per concert
Ticket sales commence:
10.00 on 17 August (series)
10.00 on 31 August (individual concerts)

 

Sibelius One Magazine – July 2021

Sibelius One’s July 2021 magazine is currently being printed and will be sent out soon to subscribers. This issue contains the following articles:

  • Khadra and Sea Change: Sibelius’s music at Sadler’s Wells – Eija Kurki
  • Sustaining the dramatic arch – Sasha Mäkilä
  • Japanese Rhapsody: Jean Sibelius, Kojiro Kobune and Akira Ifukube – Erik Homenick
  • If you like Sibelius… – Peter Frankland

For more information about our magazine please click here.

Nordic Reflections: choral music – streaming concert

A concert featuring some of Sibelius’s best-loved choral music alongside works by Elgar and Matthew Whittall  will be streamed live from Kings Place, London, on Thursday 3 June 2021 at 7.30 pm. The Carice Singers are conducted by George Parris.

After the live broadcast the event will be available on demand until Thursday 10 June.

Full programme:

Elgar My love dwelt in a northern land
Sibelius Min rastas raataa
Sibelius Män från slätten och havet
Elgar Evening Scene
Elgar The Fountain
Sibelius Rakastava
Elgar Love
Elgar Serenade
Sibelius Sortunut ääni
Sibelius Saarella palaa
Elgar Owls (An Epitaph)
Elgar O Wild west wind!
Sibelius Sydämeni laulu
Sibelius Venematka
Matthew Whittall Lauantaisauna (Saturday sauna)

Under their director George Parris the Carice Singers are becoming well-known for superb performances and imaginative programmes. Here they focus on two world-famous contemporaries, Elgar and Sibelius who, despite coming from opposite ends of Europe, share many influences, traits and tensions in their music. The programme travels between the Malvern Hills and Finnish forests, ending in the steamy embrace of Matthew Whittall’s evocation of a Saturday evening sauna. The concert is generously supported by the Nicholas John Trust.

Price: £9.50

Link to the event / tickets: click here

(Image: Broken reflections, Saimaa Canal, Russia by Ninara, Creative Commons CC BY 2.0)

Sibelius’s ‘new’ concert overture performed

Newpaper reviews of the concert overture from ‘The Maiden in the Tower’

On 23 May 2021 the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra under Tuomas Hannikainen performed Sibelius’s 12-minute Concert Overture, consisting of material from the opera Jungfrun i tornet (The Maiden in the Tower), at Helsinki’s Ritarihuone. The work was last heard in April 1900 in Turku, conducted by the composer. The reviewer of Uusi Aura called the piece a ‘ballad’ that ‘attracted much attention’; his colleague in Åbo Underrättelser mentioned that the piece had not been performed in Turku before, and was received with ‘sympathetic applause’.

Previously it has been assumed that the overture performed in Turku was just the orchestral introduction to the opera, some three minutes of music that lack an effective concert ending. When examining the original manuscript, however, Hannikainen became curious about some markings and changes, apparently in Sibelius’s handwriting. Through extensive research into the manuscript and other sources he was able to reconstruct the longer overture, i.e. the Concert Overture, which incorporates material from various different places in the opera.

Among the other music in the concert were Sibelius’s suite from Belshazzar’s Feast and the melodrama The Countess’s Portrait.

The concert can be heard here: https://areena.yle.fi/audio/1-50799742, and a video recording of the Concert Overture can be seen on the orchestra’s YouTube channel.

The score is being published by Fennica Gehrman, and performance materials will be available for hire (hire@fennicagehrman.fi).

 

Sakari Oramo’s Sibelius in Stockholm


Illustration by Jenny Svenberg Bunnel from Konserthuset website

Sakari Oramo’s final concerts as chief conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra are an in-depth journey through Jean Sibelius’s music, including all seven symphonies in chronological order. All concerts will be available to listen to free online.

Click below for links:

Wednesday 19 May 2021, 19.30 Swedish time (18.30 UK):
Symphony No. 1; Symphony No. 2 

Saturday 22 May 2021, 15.00 Swedish time (14.00 UK):
Symphony No. 3; Luonnotar; Symphony No. 4
Anu Komsi, soprano

Wednesday 26 May 2021, 19.30 Swedish time (18.30 UK):
Violin Concerto; Symphony No. 5
Lisa Batiashvili, violin

Saturday 29 May 2021, 15.00 Swedish time (14.00 UK):
Symphony No. 6; Two Serious Melodies; Symphony No. 7
Johannes Rostamo, cello

 

Lahti Sibelius Festival 2021 – Programmes

The Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s 22nd International Sibelius Festival will take place at the Sibelius Hall from 2–5 September 2021. Its artistic director is Dalia Stasevska, the new principal conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Guest artists are violinist Pekka Kuusisto, Tomas Djupsjöbacka conducting the Finnish Baroque Orchestra, actor Seela Sella, pianist Tähe-Lee Liiv, bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams, and folk musicians.


Thursday:
Timo Alakotila: Prelude to Sibelius’s Kullervo
Jean Sibelius: Kullervo

Friday
Sibelius’s early piano music and Aino’s letters to Janne         
Timo Alakotila: Prelude to Sibelius’s Violin Concerto
Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Timo Alakotila: Prelude to Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 5

Saturday
Runic songs boat trip to Myllysaari
Jean Sibelius: Lemminkäinen suite
Jean Sibelius: Pohjola’s Daughter
Jean Sibelius (arr. Einojuhani Rautavaara): In the Stream of Life
Jean Sibelius: The Bard
Jean Sibelius: En saga

Sunday
Runic songs boat trip to Myllysaari

Click here for further information.