Erkki Melartin : Symphony No.3 (1907) : NEW EDITION 2012

The Melartin Society's new performing edition of the Third Symphony differs remarkably from the version adopted by Leonid Grin for his well-known and much loved 1990's recording with the Tampere Philharmonic. It's around ten minutes longer, much of the new material seemingly in the first movement. Throughout the work instrumentation is more detailed, complex, sophisticated, ambitious, original. There are points in the "Grin Version" that seemed curiously weak or disjointed ~ now they are complete as originally intended, they make perfect sense, raising the symphony to an even higher level. Apparently the Third Symphony needed rather less reconstruction work than the others, suggesting other symphonies are going to sound very different indeed!
This is a live performance 27th April 2012, recorded from a radio broadcast. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra were conducted by Sakari Oramo. As with most live performances there is a certain amount of coughing from the audience, there are also some blips & distortions in the recording, but the sound is generally very good.
MELARTIN SOCIETY NEW EDITIONS....
"In 2006, the Erkki Melartin Society launched an editing and clean-copying project for Melartin’s symphonies. The aim was to promote their performing, and help them become a living part of the music culture in Finland. Besides the works of Jean Sibelius, the public of today should be given a possibility of hearing the more lyrical symphonic music of Melartin, which has been more influenced by the Finnish folk songs, the Finnish scenery, and the idyll of summer.
The editing and clean-copying project has also the objective of facilitating the work of symphony orchestras, since the autograph scores and handwritten orchestral parts have mistakes, incoherencies and interpretation problems. Until now, orchestras and conductors have made a considerable effort in turning the
contents of sometimes unreadable photocopies of Melartin's scores into performable shape. In addition, the works have sometimes been radically shortened in recordings and historical radio broadcasts. Therefore, it has been considered important to produce the orchestral materials in the forms in which the composer has originally written them". Follow link below for full article on Symphony No.3 ...
www2.siba.fi/Me...
Image; Vyborg Castle (Viipuri) by Philipp Chistyakov
en.wikipedia.or...
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