by MARTIN BOOKSPAN
by Martin Bookspan
SIBELIUS' FINLANDIA
THE year 1899 was a difficult one for Fin land and its population. As a subject of Imperial Russia, Finland had long been brutalized by outside interference in the administration of her affairs. Now, however, the tyranny from across the border grew in intensity.
Revolutionary flames were fanned by new Russian repression, and Finnish intellectuals--writers, poets, musicians-gave voice to a newly aroused nationalism. One such patriot was Jean Sibelius, who since the early 1890's had been allied with the radical nationalists. In 1899 Sibelius was thirty-four years old. He produced his First Symphony in that year, along with two other works that instantly fired the imagination of the people. One was titled The Song of the Athenians: scored for a chorus of men and boys, it was set to a seemingly innocent classical text. Karl Ekman, Sibelius' biographer, wrote that in The Song of the Athenians the composer "made the metallic sound of the boys' voices proclaim the readiness of a whole nation to fight and die for its liberty....At one blow Sibelius had stepped into a leading position in Finland's political front by virtue of his ability to interpret in music the thoughts and purposes that could not be expressed freely in words during the years of oppression." The other score of 1899 that was a powerful stimulus to the Finns' national aspirations was a work for chorus and orchestra, titled at first Finland Awakes. It was the finale of a series of patriotic tableaux with music staged in Helsingfors on November 4, 1899.
Six months later, Sibelius revised Finland Awakes as a score for orchestra alone and submitted it to the Helsingfors Philharmonic Orchestra under the title Suomi, the generic name for Finland. On July 2, 1900, the orchestral version was played for the first time-and it created a sensation. "Hot with the spirit of revolt" was the way the great American critic, Philip Hale, described Suomi. In English-speaking countries the music has come to be called Finlandia; in Germany it is known as Vaterland; in France as La Pattie. Significantly, Finlandia was one of the works Sibelius conducted during his only visit to the United States in the crucial summer of 1914.
The summer of 1939 was also a crucial one in the history of the world, and Finlandia figures in one of my most indelible memories of that period. With the clouds of war gathering ominously over Europe, a World's Fair was scheduled for 1939-1940 in New York. To the miracles of the Trylon and Perisphere and General Motors' World of Tomorrow exhibit was added the first genuine multimedia extravaganza in my experience: every evening at sunset the magnificent fountains in the very center of the fair were illuminated with multi colored shimmering lights, and, as the waters cascaded up and down, the music of Finlandia roared out majestically over the public address system. Now that was a spectacle of sight and sound! MY own favorite among the many recordings of Finlandia is Eugene Ormandy's version in any one of its several alternative couplings on Columbia; the one I would recommend is MS 6732, on which Finlandia shares disc space with three other Sibelius favorites, The Swan of Tuonela, En Saga, and Valse Triste. There is also a cassette of the Finlandia performance available -- Columbia 16-11-0184 -- but with other couplings.
Ormandy's recording is particularly distinguished in its use of the version for chorus and orchestra. When the mighty sound of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is added to the rich ness of the Philadelphia Orchestra in the presentation of the great hymn in Finlandia, only the stone-hearted could resist the nobility and grandeur of the experience. The re corded sound, though now more than a decade old, is still quite serviceable. Ormandy's years-long devotion to Sibelius is evident in every measure of this assured performance.
Another longtime Sibelius champion was Sir John Barbirolli, and his is the performance I would single out from among the many recordings of the orchestra-alone version (Seraphim S 60208). Barbirolli, too, delivers a high-voltage reading of the music, and if his Halle Orchestra does not have quite the tonal splendor of Ormandy's Philadelphia forces, the recorded sound is never less than first rate, with particularly fine reproduction of the snarling brass at the very opening. Barbirolli conducts Finlandia as part of an entire Sibelius program, the other works included being the Karelia Suite, Pohjola's Daughter, Valse Triste, and Lemminkainen's Return from the composer's Four Legends, Op. 22. Every thing on the disc is conducted and played with conviction and deep commitment. At the bar gain Seraphim price, the Barbirolli record is an ideal introduction for newcomers to Sibelius' music.
The 1975 UPDATING OF THE BASIC REPERTOIRE is now available in convenient pamphlet form. Send 25 cents and a stamped, self-addressed #10 (9 1/2 x 08 in.) envelope to Diane Nakamura, Stereo Review, 1 Park Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016 USA for your copy.
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