The discography of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957) is wonderfully rich, high-quality and diverse. Qobuz offers you an overview focusing on 10 particularly significant moments.

Sibelius’ works are among the most mysterious and enchanting of the early 20th century. The compositions have an incredibly sensual feel beyond their cold exterior. You need a certain perseverance when stepping into his universe. There’s a kind of brutality to the way he reveals his ideas, a reflection of his great intelligence, flowing with a sense of intense concentration. Sibelius’s works influenced a whole stylistic wave of the late 20th century, beginning with the North American repetitive composers. He stands out for his gift for melodic writing totally dissimilar from his contemporaries (Kullervo, the final theme of the 5th Symphony), with a completely personal idea of orchestral material - especially with its evolution over time. In addition to this, he also has a particularly acute awareness of acoustic space. Sound is captured right to its last resonance.

A national figure in Finland, Sibelius was recognised very early on in England, a country that immediately grasped the special nature of his compositions, unlike countries in continental Europe which has always considered him a late romantic. Music lovers discovered the composer through recordings and Sibelius’s official discography is one of the densest. Not even Debussy, Ravel, Mahler, Bartók or Schönberg can boast such consistent interpretations of such high quality over the decades.

A foundation

Spring, 1930. The Finnish conductor Robert Kajanus, founder of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and close friend of Sibelius and the painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela, was in London. Instigated by Columbia, he began recording his compatriot’s major works with the London Symphony Orchestra. Between May and June, he recorded the first two symphonies. He continued two years later (in June 1932), mainly with Symphonies Nos. 3 & 5, Tapiola, and Pohjola’s Daughter. His death on July 6, 1933 prevented him from continuing his exploration of Sibelius. It was Georg Schneevoigt who finally completed the adventure in Finland with the recording of Symphony No. 6. Leopold Stokowski had recorded the 4th in Philadelphia in 1932, and HMV published a famous concert by Koussevitzky with the 7th with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1933, completing the first complete set of the Finnish Symphonies. Even more so than those of his pioneering colleagues mentioned above, Kajanus’ recordings plunge us into the heart of a sonic world of brilliant rhythmic forcefulness, which never dulls the narrative power of the works and the genius of the atmospheres that is so unique to Sibelius. The “American” Sibelius performers, from Ormandy to Bernstein to Maazel, will long recall Kajanus’ pioneering gesture.

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