3 Sketches From Sibelius "Lost" 8th Symphony- World Premiere
Вставка
- Опубліковано 18 лис 2011
- In October 2011, the Helsinki Philharmonic, under John Storgaards, played, for the first time, three sketches from the legendary "lost" Eighth Symphony of the great Finnish conductor Jean Sibelius.
Long though destroyed in a fireplace by the conductor himself in 1945, these sketches -- and over 800 pages of unclassified symphonic scores by the great composer, were handed over by his family to the University of Helsinki and the National Library of Finland in 1982.
This information, just made public to the English speaking world, has sent shockwaves through classical musicologists.
This is not a reconstruction. These are the actual sketches and orchestration from Sibelius original manuscript. At a minimum, these are actual works written by the great conductor after he wrote Tapiola, his last great orchestrated work and when we know he was working on the Eighth Symphony. However, some scholars now feel it is only a matter of time before we are able to reconstruct the entire symphony from his sketches.
If you are dumbfounded and do not believe what you are seeing and hearing here, here are some links. If this is true this is the greatest find of lost music in the past 100 years.
Link for more information:
www.hs.fi/english/article/Is+t...
Gramophone Article: www.gramophone.co.uk/classical...
BBC Podcast: Excellent. Listen to Norman Lebrecht discuss the story of finding these sketches:
/ norman-lebrecht-on-sib...
"If this is true this is the greatest find of lost music in the past 100 years." Not even slightly exaggerated. The first fragment is beyond words.
Sad how he never finished it because he wanted to make it perfect.
i'm holding out for the 9th
It comes as no surprise that Sibelius actively promoted the young Rautavaara - the first sketch sounds like early Rautavaara...
I hope a musicologist tries to complete it at one point, a bit like what Alexander Nemtin did for Scriabin's Mysterium.
The beginning of this symphony is absolutely astonishing! What incredible genius! Certainly the finest writing Sibelius ever did . . . What an awful tragedy this work did not see some type of fruition.
A creator may be wrong about the value of this own work.
I really don't care if they simply arrange for performance and record several "movements" of the manuscripts dating to the period during which Sibelius was known to be working on the 8th Symphony, just so the world has SOME idea of where Sibelius was going after the 7th Symphony, Tapiola, and the Tempest. We've heard all the arguments before about "respecting the composer's wishes" with the Mahler 10th, Bruckner 9th, Tchaikovsky 7th, and Elgar 3rd. I completely agree with the arguments put forward as to WHY Sibelius didn't finish the 8th Symphony, or destroyed what he did compose of it, but those are matters of history no longer relevant today. Is anyone REALLY afraid that anyone listening to these precious minutes of the 8th Symphony are going to assert that the late Sibelius music was inferior?
It really is good isn't it? I have a feeling that we will have more of this symphony within the next five years, we just have to wait for people to pour through 800 pages of notes from the symphony to reconstruct more.
Sounds a little like early Rautavaara mixed in with late Sibelius. Would make sense, as Sibelius had some relations with the young Rautavaara...
Hearing this is a bittersweet experience. It's wonderful to be able to listen to a likely fragment from the 8th, but the introduction to the first extract was so astoundingly good that it makes Sibelus's long silence all the more painful to contemplate.
WOW is all I can say - and the most astonishing is that FIRST excerpt!
Update - I just posted this on a Sibelius site.
I did not know about this information. As always, hearing the familiar chords and orchestration, brings tears to my eyes. A Finn always is touched to the heart by his music. I just listened to the 3rd Symphony conducted by Kajanus.
Wow, this is buy far the most interesting and hands down persuasive Sibelius I have heard! Love those aug 5th chords, whole tone influences and chromaticism! Very cool stuff; what an incredible shame this work (even just a movement) was never completed!! Humanity lost out. Anyway, thanks for such an incredible post!!!!! And, I completely contest some others here, I would LOVE to hear this completed if done extremely well (like Cooke's Mahler 10th), if just for the sake of the music alone.
Especially the first sketch is incredible. No good to cry about the loss of the Eigth, but ... By the way: OK, Suomi is a country in the north, but why always put a stress on the "icy" quality of his music? IMHO it much more evokes summer´s white nights.
@schlesmail The Funeral Music is supposedly based on the 8th Symphony also. The words "8th Symphony" or annotation to this was written on the back of some of these pages, so claiming these are sketches from the 8th is more than speculation. In addition, we know that Sibelius was working on one major piece of music -- the 8th -- the period from when these sketches were discovered. Consider it a probability of 95% these are sketches from the 8th. Listen to the BBC podcast on this for more inf
I have such mixed feelings about hearing this. I love to have been able to hear it - one final touch of the master. But he didn't publish it. He didn't want it heard! His final wishes were not respected, and yet, I joyfully listened.
Good job on this, Eddi! Once again, as you stated in your explanatory info, these may or may not be fragments of the Eighth Symphony at some stage of composition. Still, they're fascinating to listen to & definitely show a departure in Sibelius' creative direction. It appears the Eighth was supposed to be a choral symphony. Compare these fragments with Surusoitto (Funeral Music), Op. 111b (keyword search UA-cam for "Sibelius Two Pieces.wmv"--Surusoitto starts at 6:47).
Amazing! I want to see the score. I want the CD! I want the DVD!! I want to immerse myself deeply and wholly into this music!!!