Sibelius: Andante festivo

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Uploaded on Mar 24, 2008

Jean Sibelius: Andante festivo
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons

The ‘Andante festivo’ was written for string quartet in 1922 shortly before the Sixth Symphony. The composer later expanded it for string orchestra with ‘ad lib’ timpani, and on 1 January 1939 he conducted a performance in Helsinki for short-wave radio transmission to the World Exhibition in New York. This performance was preserved on wax as a poignant historical memento. It was the last time Sibelius conducted, and is the only known recorded exemple of his conducting. The noble, seamless melody is as close as he came to a religious statement. There are, in addition, intriguing suggestions of Dvorak’s Symphony ‘From the New World’ (or is it ‘God Save the Queen’?) and Sibelius’ own later Seventh Symphony, and an unmistakeable final ‘Amen’ cadence.
(c) Robert Dearling, 1993

Sibelius, Symphonie Nr 7 C Dur op 105 Leonard Bernstein, Wiener Philharmoniker: great compositions/performances

Sibelius, Symphonie Nr 7 C Dur op 105 Leonard Bernstein, Wiener Philharmoniker

   some oane

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sibelius in 1918, the year in which he first conceived of the work which became the Seventh Symphony.

The Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105, was the final published symphony of Jean Sibelius. Completed in 1924, the Seventh is notable for being a one-movement symphony, in contrast to the standard symphonic formula of four movements. It has been described as “completely original in form, subtle in its handling of tempi, individual in its treatment of key and wholly organic in growth” ^[1] and “Sibelius’s most remarkable compositional achievement”.^[2]

After Sibelius finished its composition on March 2, 1924, the work was premiered in Stockholm on March 24 as Fantasia sinfonica No. 1, a “symphonic fantasy”. The composer was apparently undecided on what name to give the piece, and only granted it status as a symphony after some deliberation. For its publication on February 25, 1925, the score was titled “Symphony No. 7 (in one movement)”.

FORM

The form of the Seventh symphony is startlingly original. Since the time of Joseph Haydn, a movement in a symphony would typically be unified by an approximately constant tempo and would attain variety by use of contrasting themes in different keys. Sibelius turned this scheme on its head. The Seventh symphony is unified by the key of C (every significant passage in the work is in C major or C minor), and variety is achieved by an almost constantly changing tempo,^[6] as well as by contrasts of mode, articulation and texture.^[7] Sibelius had done something similar in the Fifth symphony‘s first movement, which combines elements of a standard symphonic first movement with a faster scherzo. However, the Seventh symphony contains much wider variety within one movement.

*Adagio – Poco a poco meno lento al … (bb. 222-257)
*Allegro molto moderato – Un pochett. affrettando (bb. 258-285)
*Allegro moderato – Poco a poco meno moderato (bb. 286-408)
*Vivace (bb. 409-448)
*Presto – Poco a poco rallentando al … (bb. 449-475)
*Adagio (bb. 476-495)
*Largamente molto – Affettuoso (bb. 496-521)

Fabulous Composers/Compositons: Sibelius – Andante Festivo – Gothenburg SO/Segerstam (2012)

Sibelius: Andante festivo
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra – The National Orchestra of Sweden
Leif Segerstam
rec. Konserthus, Gothenburg, 10 May 2012