SIBELIUS sYMPHONY NO. 5 sYMPHONY NO. 6 The Swan of

paavo berglund conductor LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

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Rehearsing with the and personal acquaintance. Berglund revealed London Philharmonic a rare physicality in Sibelius’s scores. It was Orchestra for his there in his three recorded symphony cycles, series of Sibelius but in these late London performances it performances in the emerged in a different, darker light. Berglund mid 2000s (which wasn’t as meticulous about observing marked resulted in a critically tempi as some of his younger compatriots acclaimed release of are. Instead he was impulsive, rugged and Symphonies No. 2 & 7 heartfelt. But his instincts always seemed to on the LPO Label, LPO-0005), Paavo Berglund serve the musical architecture, the curious hardly said a word. He was growing old, but his symphonic meta-flow unique to Sibelius. economy with speech was more about purpose and results than seniority or restraint. When That reaches its apex in the last three he did address the musicians, he was usually symphonies – in the natural flight of the loud and commanding – one or two words Fifth and the freefall journey of the Sixth. The hurled over the top of the music. His death in former powers forward in this performance, January 2012 was talked of as a goodbye to and towards something quite unusual. The one of the last conductors of the ‘old school’. third of its six concluding chords appears That was certainly true of his rehearsal style: relaxed and the fourth tightened. In the no names, no discussion and few pleasantries. concert, it seemed like Berglund knew he’d acted unlawfully but felt compelled to from Despite that, and his harsh, frowning glare, the within. Whatever our reaction now, it was part musicians of the Orchestra loved to play for of what made his concerts unique. Berglund. He made them hear new things, they reported. He was a hard worker and a straight Profile & programme notes © Andrew Mellor talker. You could tell, in rehearsal even more Andrew Mellor is Reviews Editor at Gramophone than in performance, that he wasn’t in it to be magazine and has a special interest in the music liked. But liked he was. and culture of the Nordic countries. He worked The affinity Berglund felt with the music of in the marketing department of the London went beyond shared nationality Philharmonic Orchestra from 2003–08.

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In the early 1910s, Jean Sibelius could add four movements, Sibelius later amalgamating to his own financial and health problems his first movement and scherzo into the those of his beloved itself. Russia published opener. After the initial theme on was strengthening its grip on the province, glowing horns and woodwinds, the music suspending parliament and attempting to gains momentum and folds outwards, the drive out the Finnish language. As Europe orchestra falling over itself in contrary motion slipped towards war, Finland, aligned towards the proclamation of a major fourth with Russia, faced mass slaughter and the by the trumpet. The opening motif soon annihilation of its timber exporting industry. appears again, returning in another form as ‘In a deep mire again, but already I am the Symphony is injected with optimism by an beginning to see dimly the mountain that I upward-pining theme – again in the trumpets. shall ascend’, wrote a knowing Sibelius. ‘God opens his door for a moment and his orchestra Those gestures sow the seeds for Sibelius’s is playing the Fifth Symphony.’ finale, in which the double basses are soon heard spelling out a fifth which augments as So the work was rapidly forming in Sibelius’s the bottom note drops twice, stepping back mind. Themes included the onset of spring up in the manner of an ostinato. Here are the and the spirit of the composer’s country home Järvenpää swans. As it’s taken up by the horns, at Järvenpää. Then, on 12 April 1914, Sibelius the theme gains the pace and grandeur of witnessed a sight that would affect him flight, like the graceful rise and fall of a wing. profoundly and write the Fifth Symphony’s Suddenly, the music shifts key: Sibelius’s pedal- main theme for him. It was a flock of 16 note disappears like the falling away of a swans, soaring upwards from the Järvenpää runway, and the swans – magically, gloriously lake for their migration. ‘One of my greatest – take flight. Soon thereafter they can be experiences’, Sibelius wrote in his diary, ‘the heard in the distance, returning as if for a last Fifth Symphony’s final theme … legato in the salute. Again they soar inspiringly upwards, trumpets.’ cutting through a tangling orchestral texture as if to break free from their creator’s earthly At the time of the Symphony’s Helsinki concerns. Six resigned orchestral jabs bid them première on 8 December 1915, there were a final farewell.

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As other symphonies by Sibelius soar like broad, controlling ‘meta-flow’ to which all the gliding birds or cruise like breeze-propelled individual tempi and moods must feed – like yachts, the Sixth can feel like a swift descent small tributaries into a large river. And if the of a steep hill on a nimble bicycle. The Sixth feels somehow more luminous than its Symphony’s singular feeling of glistening predecessors – lit by a different sort of light – light and playfulness has its roots in Sibelius’s it might be connected to Sibelius’s use of the childhood in the countryside of Hämmenlinna, Dorian mode, which is overt in the Scherzo which inspired its initial sketches. But by 1922 third movement but present throughout the when Sibelius came to knit those sketches Symphony, which appears to somehow float together, dark clouds had returned to his between major and minor. life. The death of his brother Christian in July threw the composer into a sustained period What there isn’t in the Sixth is the typically of grief, and his financial situation grew ever Sibelian ‘big tune’, the hymn-like striving more precarious. But his concentration on the that characterizes its companions. Sibelius Symphony remained steadfast: by 19 February suggests why when he describes the piece 1923, the work was given its première in as ‘pure, cold water’ against the champagne Helsinki. and liqueur soundscapes offered by other composers of the time. We can hear that Though the Symphony stands apart even in purity in the Symphony’s more rhapsodic, Sibelius’s output, it does include gestures that carefree moments – in the freewheeling are unmistakably those of its creator. There’s first movement, punctuated by moments of the distinct mysteriousness of the strings, so abandon from fluttering flute and darting often busily repetitive or stepping through harp, and in the tumbling modulations of its sequences. There are typically bird-like effects kinetic poco vivace. in the woodwind, and brass gestures which are thick-set like rock formations.

Also, vital to Sibelius’s late symphonies and carried forward in this example from the developments of the Fifth, is the feeling of a

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Finland is at the heart of nearly everything Born in 1929, Paavo Berglund enjoyed a Sibelius wrote. The country’s distinctive long association with the orchestras of his landscape and natural life infest the native Finland, including periods as Principal symphonies included on this recording, Conductor of the Finnish Radio Symphony and its touchstone mythological poem, the Orchestra (1962–71) and the Helsinki , directly shaped numerous other Philharmonic Orchestra (1975–79). He was works orchestral and otherwise. One of them Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth was The Building of the Boat, an opera based Symphony Orchestra from 1972–79 and on Kalevala narratives, which Sibelius started Principal Guest Conductor of the Scottish to commit to paper in 1803. The project was National Orchestra from 1981–85. He also fraught with problems and eventually sank worked with most of the major European entirely, but Sibelius re-used the overture orchestras, including the London, Berlin, to form part of his orchestral suite telling Stockholm and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras; the story of Lemminkäinen, a striking blond the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; and the youth who formed one of the Kalevala’s most Orchestre National de France. In the USA he prominent (and typically unfortunate) heroes. conducted, among others, the San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland, New York Philharmonic The descriptive exactitude of the music and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras. remained unchanged in its new incarnation: it depicts the black waters above Tuonela, the Berglund’s discography includes works by Kalevala’s land of the dead, on which a single Shostakovich, Smetana and Dvo ák, and singing swan floats (the swan Lemminkäinen ř tried to catch). In a masterstroke of his Nielsen symphony cycle won the French instrumentation, Sibelius chose a twisting, Diapason d’Or award. It is for his recordings of reedy to represent the swan’s slow the symphonies of Sibelius, however, for which passage and its brutal, curvaceous, feathered he is possibly best known. Berglund conducted neck. The instrument sings troubled melodies the world première recording of Sibelius’s above thick, muted strings, punctuated by just Symphony, and recorded the complete one sustained moment of optimism in the symphony cycle no less than three times. Paavo form of a long C major chord. Berglund died in January 2012.

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The London Philharmonic Orchestra is known May each year. In summer, the Orchestra as one of the world’s great orchestras with moves to Sussex where it has been Resident at a reputation secured by its performances in Glyndebourne Festival Opera for over 40 years. the concert hall and opera house, its many The Orchestra also performs at venues around award-winning recordings, its trail-blazing the UK and has made numerous tours to international tours and its pioneering America, Europe and Japan, and visited India, education work. Distinguished conductors Hong Kong, China, South Korea, Australia, who have held positions with the Orchestra Oman, South Africa and Abu Dhabi. since its foundation in 1932 by Sir include Sir Adrian Boult, Sir John The London Philharmonic Orchestra made its Pritchard, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, first recordings on 10 October 1932, just three Klaus Tennstedt, Franz Welser-Möst and Kurt days after its first public performance. It has Masur. Vladimir Jurowski was appointed the recorded and broadcast regularly ever since, Orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor in and in 2005 established its own record label. March 2003 and became Principal Conductor These recordings are taken mainly from live in September 2007. The London Philharmonic concerts given by conductors including LPO Orchestra has been Resident Symphony Principal Conductors from Beecham and Boult, Orchestra at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival through Haitink, Solti and Tennstedt, to Masur Hall since 1992 and there it presents its main and Jurowski. lpo.org.uk series of concerts between September and © Patrick Harrison © Patrick

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For more information or to purchase CDs, telephone +44 (0)20 7840 4242 or visit lpo.org.uk/shop LPO-0005 LPO-0057 LPO-0036 ‘These performances generate ‘One of the best recordings ‘Vänskä’s account of the Third excitement no studio version around of Sibelius’s Fifth. And Symphony is a marvel of could capture.’ The Guardian Lutosławski’s Concerto can measured, uninflated eloquence.’ never have been more brilliantly The Sunday Times played.’ The Guardian LPO-0043 LPO-0004 LPO-0055 ‘In these dedicated performances ‘This pair of CDs demonstrate ‘A joy from beginning to end.’ both works cast a powerful spell.’ how, in the right hands, the first The Sunday Times BBC Music two symphonies can thrill and delight.’ The Arts Desk

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31:40 Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82 01 13:41 Tempo molto moderato – Allegro moderato 02 8:22 Andante mosso, quasi allegretto 03 9:37 Allegro molto – Un pochettino largamente

28:35 Symphony No. 6 in D minor, Op. 104 04 8:47 Allegro molto moderato 05 6:19 Allegretto moderato 06 3:52 Poco vivace 07 10:46 Allegro molto

08 9:12 The Swan of Tuonela (from Lemminkäinen Suite, Op. 22)

PAAVO BERGLUND conductor LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA Pieter Schoeman leader (tracks 1–3 & 8) Boris Garlitsky leader (tracks 4–7)

Recorded live at Southbank Centre’s ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL and Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

LPO – 0065

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