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While the beloved ‘Valse triste’ and ‘Scene with Cranes’ from Kuolema are virtually signature tunes for the great Finnish composer, much of Sibelius’s orchestral and theatrical music remains undeservedly less familiar.
From the incidental music for the play Belshazzar’s Feast Sibelius drew four richly scored orientalist movements.
The tone poems Pan and Echo and Night Ride and Sunrise respectively evoke the world of ancient myth and a nocturnal journey towards a Nordic dawn. A lilting waltz dances at the heart of the impressionistic The Dryad, while castanets enliven the light-hearted mood of the Tanz-Intermezzo, Op. 45 No. 2.
Kuolema (Death), Incidental music, Op. 44 (revised version): No. 2. Scene with Cranes
Jean Sibelius: Kuolema (Death), Additional Scenes: No. 1. Canzonetta, Op. 62a
Kuolema (Death), Additional Scenes: No. 1. Canzonetta, Op. 62a
Jean Sibelius: Kuolema (Death), Additional Scenes: No. 2. Valse romantique, Op. 62b
Kuolema (Death), Additional Scenes: No. 2. Valse romantique, Op. 62b
February 2009
“…Pietari Inkinen is a young conductor with confidence and talent to spare. Inkinen's readings… show a real feeling for the idiom: phrases are shaped - and textures sifted - with fastidiousness and imagination… Inkinen's luminous account of the suite from Belshazzar's Feast will have you questioning why such an appealing and highly evocative score is so seldom performed... rarities such as Pan and Echo and The Dryad emerge with a dewy freshness and ear-pricking sophistication that prompt a radical reappraisal. A disc... guaranteed to give pretty much unbridled pleasure.”
2010
“As on this partnership's previous Sibelius anthology (see page 1076) the New Zealand SO respond with conspicuous poise and application for their Finnish chief. Inkinen's readings, too, show a real feeling for the idiom: phrases are shaped – and textures sifted – with fastidiousness and imagination, and he brings an abundant recreative flair and cogent grip to the task in hand, not least in Night Ride and Sunrise, whose elusive structure he binds together with a sure-footed skill that belies his tender years. Moreover, Inkinen's luminous account of the suite from Belshazzar's Feast will have you questioning why such an appealing and highly evocative score is so seldom performed. Elsewhere, rarities such as Pan and Echo and The Dryad emerge with a dewy freshness and ear-pricking sophistication that prompt a radical reappraisal. Inkinen even manages to breathe new life into the Op 44 diptych from the 1903 incidental music for Kuolema (the ubiquitous 'Valse triste' and bleakly beautiful 'Scene with Cranes'), and his alchemy extends to the two altogether more mundane numbers that Sibelius added for a 1911 revival of the play. A disc, then, guaranteed to give pretty much unbridled pleasure. Naxos's sound combines helpful transparency with plenty of ambient glow.”
“top-notch performances”
2011 edition
“played with splendid idiomatic feeling...First-class recording completes the listener's pleasure in an anthology that is worth every penny of its modest cost.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
Night Ride and Sunrise, Op. 55
