FMQ - Jean Sibelius Articles

Charting a musical map of the Nordic countries

"The book is above all a profuse and expert love letter to music and life in the Nordic countries. Mellor’s expertise in and enthusiasm for his subject comes clearly across in the text."

Lasse Lehtonen

August 16, 2022

Reviews

The two sides of a Sibelius coin

Finland’s latest star conductor, Klaus Mäkelä, has caused a bit of a stir with his Decca label debut - a full cycle of Sibelius Symphonies, no less. But what part of the success is calculated studio work and what is an exceptional flow of music that can also be achieved in concert? To find out, we can compare the studio recording to a recent live experience at Hamburg Elbphilharmonie.

Marcus Stäbler

June 17, 2022

Reviews

Made in Finland is a label allowing space for multiple identities – at least in ballet

"Witnessing the well-oiled production machinery of the FNB at work, one can sense that every creative contributor has had enough space and responsibility to dispel any need for power struggles or artistic compromises. The goal was reached through a common effort."

Kare Eskola

May 20, 2022

Features

Jean Sibelius Works uses archival research to probe the creative process

Jean Sibelius Works is compiling a critical edition of the complete works of Sibelius, based on a variety of archival sources. The study is building a fascinating picture of the composer’s creative process while also challenging the traditional notion of what is a ‘work’.

Lasse Lehtonen

March 31, 2022

Reviews

Sonic shavings from the workbench

"Janne Mertanen lets the music speak for itself, though also taking the few virtuosic challenges in his stride."

Martin Anderson

November 30, 2021

Reviews

Old tales, new sounds

"It will come as no surprise that Dima Slobodeniouk and his Lahti musicians give all four works committed and lively performances, and that the BIS team have captured them in vivid sound."

Martin Anderson

November 30, 2021

Reviews

The Majesty of the Miniature

"Sibelius’ piano output is full of one gem after another; and they usually hold together as collections, too: he assembled his miniatures with care and an ear to tonal progressions and variety of expression."

Martin Anderson

May 6, 2021

Features

Mental images and audio-visual influencing - Music in political campaigns

“The role of music in political campaigns adds up to much more than just rallying around the cause, or simply attracting attention. Music, in all different forms, is included in political parties’ and candidates’ image-building and communication agendas, which can be used in multiple ways to influence voters.” Researcher Sini Mononen takes a look at the use of music in political campaigns through everyday examples.

Sini Mononen

March 29, 2021

Reviews

Astonishing radicality

"If this recording doesn’t sweep up an indecent quantity of prizes, there’s something wrong with the world."

Martin Anderson

December 12, 2019

Features

A celebration of historical Finnish women who wrote music, Part 4: Ida Moberg

Ida Moberg (1859–1947) wished to command ensembles that produced a large sound while also touching human emotions: Most of her output is for orchestra or choir or both. The topics of her works largely has to do with individual’s spiritual metamorphosis.

Susanna Välimäki

October 11, 2019

Features

Music in illo tempore

The wars fought in the early decades of Finland’s independence cast a long, dark shadow far into the second half of the 20th century. The voice of war in works by Finnish composers speaks of victory, defeat, grief and reconciliation.

Antti Häyrynen

February 14, 2018

Reviews

Finnish landscapes, family likenesses

Lauri Porra reveals in the first sentence of his booklet commentary that he is the great-grandson of Jean Sibelius – but it’s more by way of explaining his musical background than to trade on the relationship.

Martin Anderson

January 25, 2018

Reviews

The Rumble of Christmas

The Helsinki Chamber Choir is one of the best in its kind in the world these days.

Martin Anderson

December 21, 2017

Reviews

A Meeting of musical minds

Sallinen’s orchestrations are a miracle of restraint, somehow managing to sound entirely appropriate without mimicking Sibelius’s own style: his textures are lighter, with less ‘middle’, and little flashes of colour from winds, brass and harp all bringing an invigorating freshness.

Martin Anderson

November 16, 2017

Reviews

Gatecrashing the Nordic Music Days

The huge tide of humanity that almost overwhelmed the 2017 NMD was also its triumph: a characteristic gift from London, European capital of creative curiosity and of the big crowd.

Andrew Mellor

October 5, 2017

Reviews

Minnesotan Memories of Migration

This double album is the issue of three concerts given in Minnesota in February 2016, and Olli Kortekangas’ Migrations was a commission for that occasion. Migrations must have caused many in its initial audiences to reflect upon their own origins, and it retains its ability to touch the heart in this recording.

Martin Anderson

May 17, 2017

Reviews

The Sibelius symphonies cycle by Kamu and Lahti SO

"It is meaningless to select a ‘best’ recording when musicians have such different views of the same pieces of music, but I can say that you would be hard-pressed to find more satisfying performances anywhere else."

Martin Anderson

August 12, 2015

Reviews

Sibelius’s piano works by Mertanen

"Janne Mertanen is a reliable guide to this unfailingly attractive and sometimes moving repertoire: his rhythms are precise and his textures clear."

Martin Anderson

August 12, 2015

Reviews

Svänging Sibelius

"Sväng, the Finnish harmonica quartet, blows fresh air to Sibelius celebrations with arrangements of composer’s well-known works."

Juha Torvinen

August 12, 2015

Reviews

Lofty Thoughts in the Organ Loft

"Hardly anybody thinks of Sibelius as an organ composer, and yet his natural mode of composition suited the organ perfectly: he thought from the bass upwards, and that’s the way the best organ music works."

Martin Anderson

May 12, 2015

Features

“Utterly Finnish, peculiarly original”

The concept of a national musical language made its way to Finland in the 1800s. One of the culminations of this new wave was the premiere performance of Sibelius’s Kullervo. The birth of this epic music historical tale was influenced by a number of endeavours, ideas and occurrences.

Olli Heikkinen

January 4, 2015

Features

Augmented music

The latest Finnish examples of using multimedia to add to the way people experience music via use of new media are augmented reality application Arilyn, and SibHack, an event for programmers.

January 4, 2015

Features

A visit from Mr Composer

What happened when Jean Sibelius and Larin Paraske met? This is one way to imagine the scene, from the runo singer’s point of view.

Ilona Korhonen

January 4, 2015

Features

“Struggling artist like the rest of us”

What relevance does Sibelius – and his big anniversary – hold for the wider Finnish music and culture scene in 2015? Andrew Mellor asked five musicians from outside the classical music tradition.

Andrew Mellor

January 4, 2015

Features

Patriotic soundtracks

Following the general European trend, musical meanings that could be interpreted as nationalistic were put to use in Finland during the first half of the 20th century. The propaganda and educational film industries used music by Sibelius, among others.

Kaarina Kilpiö

January 4, 2015

Features

The responsibility of an artist

Jean Sibelius was a political person throughout his life, although this should be understood in the right way. He was never a member of any political party, nor did he participate in any such activities. He was politically active in a different way.

Veijo Murtomäki

January 4, 2015

Columns

Guest Column: My Sibelius

"Most of the time, I am far from Sibelius’s – and my own – homeland and on neutral territory, i.e. alone with my scores. But it is there, between the lines, that I am struck by something I cannot explain. I don’t, however, think it is just a national trait, because all over the world I meet people similarly affected by this remarkable music."

Susanna Mälkki

January 4, 2015

Features

The tone of the north

The north is a regular theme in Finnish music. But it is also more. It is the main myth of the region’s inhabitants, an undertone that determines their thoughts and way of life. That is why the north can be heard in Finnish music even when it is not explicitly the theme.

Juha Torvinen

January 9, 2010

Reviews

Sibelius à volonté

"With the fiftieth anniversary of Sibelius' death falling this year, it is only natural that record companies should want to mark the occasion. BIS, though, has gone rather further than you might have expected."

Martin Anderson

February 4, 2007

Features

Jean Sibelius conducts

Jean Sibelius conducted his own compositions with orchestras the world over for the space of nearly three decades. Vesa Sirén, author of “Aina poltti sikaria – Jean Sibelius aikalaisten silmin” (Always Smoking a Cigar – Jean Sibelius as seen by his Contemporaries), here views the composer as conductor in the light of contemporary evidence and the maestro’s only known recording.

Vesa Sirén

January 6, 2001

Features

Sibelius - the View from the Podium

Paavo Berglund, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, and Neeme Järvi are today's great Sibelius conductors, carrying on a tradition that began with Robert Kajanus and Sir Thomas Beecham. What are their thoughts on the Finnish composer?

Vesa Sirén

January 3, 1999

Features

Sibelius Eight. What happened to it?

During the last three decades of his life, Sibelius was locked in a desperate struggle with the forces of creation, the expectations of those around him and his own growing self-criticism. By the end, the vital question had been whittled down to: perfection or completion? Consciously or unconsciously, Sibelius plumped for perfect. Kari Kilpeläinen here traces the history of the elusive eighth symphony in the light of the documents that have been preserved. Anyone interested in reading more about the subject would do well to dig out Volume 1 of the Finnish Music Quarterly (1985), in which Erik Tawaststjerna takes a broad look at the background to ‘Sibelius 8′.

Kari Kilpeläinen

January 12, 1995

Features

Oskar Merikanto, the composer who captured the hearts of the people

When the biography of Oskar Merikanto was published in 1950, it was subtitled “A household name in Finland”. And although romanticising biographies were all the vogue at the time, the title nevertheless says much about the importance of Merikanto in moulding Finnish musical taste. In the early decades of the 20th century Oskar Merikanto, his performances and music, influenced the taste of the ordinary Finn more, even, than Sibelius.

Pekka Hako

February 4, 1993

Features

Sibelius, Finland and the symphonic idea

Composer, musicology Professor emeritus Mikko Heiniö's article on Jean Sibelius's historical significance was first published in FMQ in 1990.

Mikko Heiniö

January 8, 1985

Features

Music in the archives

Historical research very often starts with the researcher consulting archives. Finland has a wide variety of libraries and archives with material on a wide range of subjects, including Sibelius, church music from the Middle Ages, folk music and popular music.

Matti Huttunen

January 8, 1985

Features

The Story of the Finnish Choir – Social institution and human instrument

In his article from 1987 Markku Kilpiö takes a look at Finnish choral singing.

Markku Kilpiö

January 8, 1985

Features

The national and international Sibelius

Composer and academician Joonas Kokkonen (1921–1996) examined in 1990 Sibelius's often ambivalent position – on the one hand the object of exaggerated hero worship, on the other the victim of violent criticism as a "local celebrity".

Joonas Kokkonen

January 8, 1985

Features

Selim Palmgren – A Finnish cosmopolite

The composer Selim Palmgren walked a tightrope between national and international trends in music. He was part of the Finnish national music movement but tried to combine this with a more international outlook.

Kimmo Korhonen

January 8, 1985

Features

The poet of the opera

The most prolific and most popular opera librettist in Finland today is a writer, poet and musician from Peru: Maritza Núñez. The opera Frida y Diego by Kalevi Aho, commissioned by the Sibelius Academy, is to be premiered at the Helsinki Musiikkitalo in October 2014.

Matti Tuomisto

January 8, 1985

Features

Finnish through and through – Kullervo by Jean Sibelius

"Kullervo is a five-movement composition which depicts the main events from the (Kalevala) hero's life. The depiction is so vivid and so completely Finnish that at every point the work overflows with the grave and melancholy spirit of old Finland. We must marvel at the fact that Mr Sibelius has kept to the same very Finnish style from beginning to end of his work. "

FMQ

January 8, 1985

Features

Musicologist and humanist Erik Tawaststjerna, the interpreter of Sibelius's inner voices

“. . . seule la métaphore est exacte ... “ (Roland Barthes) Eero Tarasti, successor to Erik Tawaststjerna as professor of music at the University of Helsinki, takes a look at the method applied by Tawaststjerna in his biography of Sibelius.

Eero Tarasti

January 8, 1985