BKLA0100689780-AFSA-NO 23.03.2006 6:23 Uhr Seite 1 Sibelius Luonnotar Orchestral Songs Soile Isokoski soprano Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Leif Segerstam BKLA0100689780-AFSA-NO 23.03.2006 6:23 Uhr Seite 2 Jean S 1 Kai 2 Luo 3 Me 4 Säv 5 Dem 6 Vår 7 Un 8 De 9 Sol 10 Var 11 Hö 12 På 13 Ari 14 Illa 2 15 Las 16 Sou 17 S’e 18 En 19 He Soile Iso Helsinki Leif Sege Recording: Executive Pr Recording P Recording E Publishers: Helsinki (Ar Publ., Frank P 2006 On Artist Photo Jean Sibelius in Kuhmoinen, summer 1912 Maarit Kytö BKLA0100689780-AFSA-NO 23.03.2006 6:23 Uhr Seite 3 Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) 1 Kaiutar,Op. 72/4 (arr.Jussi Jalas) 3:07 2 Luonnotar,Op. 70, Tone poem for soprano and orchestra 8:49 3 Men min fågel märks dock icke,Op. 36/2 (arr.Ernest Pingoud) 2:47 4 Säv, säv susa,Op. 36/4 (arr.Ivar Hellman) 2:32 5 Demanten på marssnön,Op. 36/6 2:36 6 Våren flyktar hastigt,Op. 13/4 1:35 7 Under strandens granar,Op. 13/1 (arr.Jussi Jalas) 5:10 8 Den första kyssen,Op. 37/1 (arr.Nils-Eric Fougstedt) 1:58 9 Soluppgång,Op. 37/3 2:17 10 Var det en dröm?,Op. 37/4 (arr.Jussi Jalas) 2:22 11 Höstkväll,Op. 38/1 4:54 12 På verandan vid havet,Op. 38/2 3:39 13 Arioso,Op. 3 4:38 14 Illalle,Op. 17/6 (arr.Jussi Jalas) 1:21 15 Lastu lainehilla,Op. 17/7 (arr.Jussi Jalas) 0:58 3 16 Souda, souda sinisorsa (arr.Jussi Jalas) 1:17 17 S’en har jag ej frågat mera,Op. 17/1 2:43 18 En slända,Op. 17/5 (arr.Jussi Jalas) 4:02 19 Hertig Magnus,Op. 57/6 3:18 [61:37] Soile Isokoski, soprano Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra Leif Segerstam, conductor Recording: Helsinki, Finlandia Hall, 10/2005 Back Cover Illustration: Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865–1931), Executive Producer: Reijo Kiilunen Luonnotar,Gallen-Kallela Museum in Espoo Recording Producer: Seppo Siirala Cover Design and Booklet Layout: Eduardo Nestor Gomez Recording Engineer: Enno Mäemets Booklet Editor: Jean-Christophe Hausmann Publishers: Breitkopf &Härtel, Wiesbaden; Fazer Music, Helsinki (Arioso; Souda, souda sinisorsa); Robert Lienau Ondine Inc. Publ., Frankfurt/Main (Hertig Magnus) Fredrikinkatu 77 A 2 P 2006 Ondine Inc., Helsinki FIN-00100 Helsinki Artist Photos: Irmeli Jung (Soile Isokoski), Tel.: +358.9.434.2210 / Fax: +358.9.493.956 Maarit Kytöharju (Leif Segerstam) E-mail: [email protected] / www.ondine.net BKLA0100689780-AFSA-NO 23.03.2006 6:23 Uhr Seite 4 Sibelius h Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) poems he Luonnotar ·Orchestral songs 1899–19 J.J. Weck Jean Sibelius had plans in the early 1900s for a tone poem entitled Luonnotar,based on a subject from love with the Kalevala.The project was not completed at that time, but in 1913 the composer returned to the subject. The celebrated Finnish singer Aino Ackté was constantly bombarding Sibelius with requests for Soluppgå new compositions, and eventually the burden of deferred promises became too much. The new work scenograp transcended the bounds of conventional orchestral songs in terms of both technical demands and ground; h expression; indeed, Luonnotar can better be described as a tone poem for soprano and orchestra. ronment engulfed Luonnotar (The Nature-Spirit) Op. 70 takes its text from the first runo of the Kalevala, the myth of cre- ation. The filigreed string accompaniment displays remnants of Sibelius’s earlier Kalevala style, but in all Although other respects Luonnotar explores open waters and unknown seas. The emptiness of the newly creat- tlingly mo ed world is palpable in the extreme registers of the orchestral texture through which the soprano solo Rydberg O soars like “maiden of the air” or the “duck, aplain bird” in the poem. In Höstkv The austerity of the musical material does not translate into simplistic primitivism. Sibelius emphasizes gloomy im 4 the mystical and ecstatic aspects of the event, as the expressive tension sweeps over the orchestra “in tury Finni agreat gust of wind”. In Luonnotar,Sibelius presents the universe as acosmic state which is unfath- pella sect omable in its infinity and which exists in a state before the (symphonic) processes that create and nur- thereis n turelife. På verand In his orchestral works, Sibelius often drew on the Finno-Ugric identity,but as his mother tongue was duction se Swedish, most of his solo songs are settings of poetry in Swedish. The idealistic texts of Runeberg, melancho Wecksell and Fröding prompted dramatic and brilliant musical settings. silent, the Sibelius wrote Arioso Op. 3, a setting of apoem by Finland’s national poet Johan Ludvig Runeberg The poet (1804–1877), in 1893, and in 1911 he rearranged it for female voice and strings. Runeberg’s poem ‘Empire’ s compares a rose frozen by winter to the tragic fate of a young woman. Sibelius paints the scene with mera (The the girl and the flower with abroad brush, allowing the soprano voice to blossom to its fullest. autumn a yet becom The set of Runeberg songs Op. 13 written in 1890–92 is in afull-blooded Romantic style. Våren flyktar hastigt (Spring Fleets Fast) features a typical man-and-woman narrative: the woman grieves for the swift The song passing of the springtime of life, while the man urges her to seize the moment and to acquirebeauti- with a va ful memories to treasure. Sibelius opens the song in a wistful mood but concludes in an almost coquet- towards p tish tone. maids in he does n BKLA0100689780-AFSA-NO 23.03.2006 6:23 Uhr Seite 5 Sibelius had aknack for highlighting the Symbolist undertones of many of the Swedish-language poems he set. Thereare several examples of this approach in the songs of Op. 36, written in 1899–1900. Demanten på marssnön (The Diamond on the March Snow), a setting of apoem by J.J. Wecksell, is agrandiose depictionofhow the snowflakes sparkling in a winter snowdrift fall in bject from love with the blazing sun and arefinally consumed by its burning kiss. ed to the quests for Soluppgång (Sunrise) Op. 37/3, a setting of Tor Hedberg, is interesting because of its Wagnerian new work scenography.The protagonist is aknight harkening to the sounds of battle against a splendid back- ands and ground; his lady love only appears briefly as a white hand stroking his forehead. The natural envi- estra. ronment seems to be the most important for Sibelius here, and even the blast of the war hornis engulfed by the tranquillity of the morning. yth of cre- but in all Although Sibelius’s solo songs, as a rule, areamong his most conservative works, thereis some star- wly creat- tlingly modern writing among them. The collection of songs to poems by Swedish poet Viktor rano solo Rydberg Op. 38 (1903) is one of the composer’s finest in terms of expressive power. In Höstkväll (Autumn Night), the austereinstrumental accompaniment seems to shy away from the mphasizes gloomy images of naturedeclaimed by the singer.The song was written for the great early-20th-cen- hestra “in tury Finnish opera diva Aino Ackté, who had the charisma required to sustain the extensive acap- 5 is unfath- pella sections. It is not until the final stanza that we see aperson appearing amid the autumn storm: and nur- thereis no harmony,as even human suffering is lost in the darkness. På verandan vid havet (On aVeranda by the Sea), too, is anything but an idyll. The chromatic intro- ngue was duction sets up an oppressive mood in which the singer begins to reminisce about sighing waves and Runeberg, melancholy stars. Above looms the conflict between the transitory and the eternal. As naturefalls silent, the tension erupts into adefiant image of aGod who conceals His purposes from our sight. Runeberg The poetry of Runeberg offered Sibelius both Romantic moments and the elegance of classical rg’s poem ‘Empire’ style, both of which can be found in the opening number of Op. 17, Se’n har jag ej frågat cene with mera (Then ICeased to Ask those Questions), a sketch of the trinity of rejected love, approaching st. autumn and fading beauty.Brahms heard this song in 1895 and remarked that the composer “might yet become something”. ren flyktar r the swift The song collection Op. 57 (1909) to poems by Ernst Josephson reminds us of Sibelius’s struggles re beauti- with a variety of temptations preceding the writing of his Fourth Symphony.Some of the songs lean st coquet- towards pessimism, but Hertig Magnus (Baron Magnus) Op. 57/6 stoutly resists the lureof the mer- maids in Lake Vättern. He does eventually jump into the water,but despite the ominous ballad style he does not come to grief: he wakes up, unharmed, in abed of violets. BKLA0100689780-AFSA-NO 23.03.2006 6:23 Uhr Seite 6 At times, Sibelius captured the tone of afolk ballad with almost magical simplicity. Säv, säv, susa The Rune (Sigh, Rushes, Sigh) Op. 36/4 (1904), a setting of Gustav Fröding, is the tale told by sedges rustling images. T in the wind of the unhappy Ingalill. After adramatic culmination, the music subsides into sighing. young lov ness Deat Under strandens granar (Under the Fir Trees on the Shore) Op. 13/1 (1892) was written while Sibelius ating into was on his honeymoon in easternFinland. Theremay be psychoanalytical dimensions involved: a young man is enticed by a water-sprite which takes many shapes, and despite the efforts of the Most of S young man’s mother the sprite eventually triumphs.