JEAN SIBELIUS (1865-1957)

The Origin of Fire

 

Tulen synty (The Origin of Fire), Op.32 – original (1902) and revised (1910) versions

Sandels, Op.28– original (1898) and revised (1915) versions

Har du mod? (Have You Courage?), Op.31 No.2 – second (1911) and fourth (1914) versions

Vapautettu kuningatar (The Captive Queen), Op.48 – male choir version (1910)

Jääkärien marssi (March of the Finnish Jäger Battalion), Op.91a – version for male choir and orchestra (1918)

Koskenlaskijan morsiamet (The Rapids-Rider’s Brides), Op.33 – choir version (1943)

Rakastava (The Lover) – version for tenor, male choir and strings, JS160b (1894)

 

Tommi Hakala (baritone: The Origin of Fire), Tom Nyman (tenor: Rakastava)

YL Male Voice Choir, Lahti Symphony Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä

 

This exciting new disc includes seven world première recordings, bringing together works by Sibelius for male voice choir and orchestra.

 

Three of the works - The Origin of Fire, Sandels and Har du mod? - are presented in two alternative versions, giving the opportunity to sample the composer’s development and the way he responded to circumstances when adapting his works.

 

Other works are better known in different scorings, such as The Captive Queen (normally performed by mixed choir and orchestra) and Rakastava (string orchestra). In various ways these pieces are the products of a preoccupation with national identity and independence which the composer shared with his fellow Finns, under Russian domination until 1917.

 

Performing this volatile programme is the YL Male Voice Choir (formerly known as Helsinki University Choir), for whom Rakastava was composed in 1894; to this day, YL is widely acknowledged to be the foremost interpreter of Sibelius’s music for male choir. The choir is joined by the expert forces of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä, praised in previous Sibelius recording BISCD1225: “The playing is unfailingly beautiful and idiomatic.” Classics Today

 

BIS BISCD1525