Sibelius: Violin Concerto / Sinding: Legende / Halvorsen: Norwegian Dances

Description

Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957) Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47Johan Svendsen (1840 - 1911) Romance Op. 26Johan Halvorsen (1864 - 1935) Danses norvegiennes Christian Sinding (1856 - 1941)Legende Op. 46Johan Halvorsen Air norvegienne, Op. 7The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius wasborn in 1865, the son of a doctor. The language and culture of his family wasSwedish, but Sibelius himself was to enter wholeheartedly into the world ofFinland, with its different linguistic and literary traditions. It was thisworld that he translated into musical terms in his remarkable seven symphoniesand in a series of tone poems that echo the ancient saga's. He was trained as amusician at first in Helsinki, then in Berlin and Vienna, and had earlyambitions as a violinist, at a time when the first professional orchestra inFinland was being established. Narrowly failing to win the position ofProfessor of Music at the University of Helsinki in 1896, he was awarded agovernment stipend for ten years, converted thereafter into a pension for life.This was never enough to meet his needs, hardly tempered by a certain inheritedimprovidence. His father had had a gift for extravagance, and had left hisfamily bankrupt at the time of his early death. For the last 27 years of hislong life Sibelius virtually ceased to work as a composer. His position wasunassailable, but he felt himself out of tune with the contemporary world ofmusic, as it had developed.Sibelius completed the first version ofhis Violin Concerto in 1903 and it was first performed in Helsinki withindifferent results. The concerto was revised and successfully performed inBerlin in 1905 by Karl Halir, under the direction of Richard Strauss. Thechoice of soloist, however, offended the violinist Willy Burmester, who hadoriginally been promised the work. The earlier version of the concerto wastechnically ambitious, and as a violinist Sibelius had needed no help with thelay-out of the solo part, although this presented technical difficulties thatwere beyond his own command. The later version made necessary revisions in thesolo part and it is in this definitive form that the work has become a standardpart of the solo repertoire.The concerto opens with no lengthyorchestral introduction, the soloist making an almost immediate appearance,accompanied by a Scandinavian mist of muted strings. Although the movement isin the traditional tripartite form, the central development section is replacedby a cadenza-like passage for the violinist. The lyrical slow movement brings adeeply romantic melody, the soloist proceeding to weave his own fantasies abovethe orchestra. There follows a finale which the composer once described as adanse macabre, providing an opportunity for virtuoso display in a work in whichthe solo part is generally intertwined with the orchestral texture.Johan Svendsen was born in Christiania,the modern Oslo, in 1840, the son of an army musician. He was trained as aviolinist, although his family background led to his enrol