So tell me about Jean. What's good? I have a boxed set of symphonies but thus far I've only got into the first. Finlandia I don't have but I remember liking it. Also, has that first symphony been used somewhere like a movie. When I first heard it it was very familiar to me.
― Sam (chirombo), Thursday, 20 March 2003 12:29 (twenty-three years ago)
― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 20 March 2003 15:12 (twenty-three years ago)
― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 20 March 2003 15:35 (twenty-three years ago)
― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 20 March 2003 16:41 (twenty-three years ago)
― robin (robin), Thursday, 20 March 2003 17:39 (twenty-three years ago)
― Amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 20 March 2003 17:44 (twenty-three years ago)
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/07/09/070709fa_fact_ross
great article in the new yorker this week. alex ross loses me when he gets hyper-technical, like, "then we have a jump from an augmented fourth to a third-species contrapuntal dissonance that ends in a heavenly A, Eb, F#." i guess some readers somewhere profit from it.. that morton feldman passage at the end really sold me, and adorno's attack really made him seem like a dick.
I'm a huge fan of the 4th symphony and the Tapiola. Maybe I need a different recording on the violin concerto, because it's never really done it for me.
― poortheatre, Thursday, 5 July 2007 19:58 (eighteen years ago)
4th symphony is really good -- surprised it hasn't been used in movies many times over. I also read about him in the alex ross book, and tho he goes on about sibelius for way too long, I'm glad he convinced me to check this out
― Dominique, Monday, 22 September 2008 20:13 (seventeen years ago)
OTM how fucking GORGEOUS is the climax on the third movement?
― Turangalila, Friday, 26 December 2008 02:45 (seventeen years ago)
I just watched Die Hard 2 and kept hearing Finlandia all the way through. Why do film composers adapt The Greatest Hits like that? (The Rock: Dies Irae, Dark City: Rite Of Spring... annoying.)
1st symphony is my favourite.
― Owen Pallett, Friday, 26 December 2008 17:25 (seventeen years ago)
btw I love this.
― Plaxico (I know, right?), Friday, 26 December 2008 17:45 (seventeen years ago)
Ugh, yes.
― Turangalila, Friday, 26 December 2008 18:14 (seventeen years ago)
Still obsessed with the 4th symphony
http://www.zshare.net/audio/533814872e3c122c/
― Turangalila, Sunday, 28 December 2008 04:37 (seventeen years ago)
Japanese electronic composer Isao Tomita does a really NASA version of Valse Triste on the soundtrack to Chris Marker's Sans Soleil.
― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, March 20, 2003 3:12 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark
classic gygax post, very much in character, RIP.
― ian, Sunday, 28 December 2008 08:11 (seventeen years ago)
RIP?
― Turangalila, Sunday, 28 December 2008 13:38 (seventeen years ago)
YSI?
― Matt P. (Matt P), Sunday, 28 December 2008 13:39 (seventeen years ago)
Die Hard 2 was directed by Renny Harlin, the only Finn ever to make it in Hollywood, so I guess he put Finlandia there for patriotic reasons. It's still pretty corny though.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 28 December 2008 15:45 (seventeen years ago)
Heh, I made a remark a few days ago about how Hollywood ruined classical music.
― Girlfriend, you've been scooped like ice cream (mehlt), Sunday, 28 December 2008 15:48 (seventeen years ago)
― Girlfriend, you've been scooped like ice cream (mehlt), Sunday, December 28, 2008 3:48 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark
Not in the 60s and 70s! Hollywood was new music's biggest champion.
― Owen Pallett, Sunday, 28 December 2008 17:40 (seventeen years ago)
Well, I was thinking more in the contemporary action/heavy handed schlock film sense.
― Girlfriend, you've been scooped like ice cream (mehlt), Sunday, 28 December 2008 17:41 (seventeen years ago)
Wait, I used schlock thinking schmaltz, although I guess that's on point as well.
― Girlfriend, you've been scooped like ice cream (mehlt), Sunday, 28 December 2008 17:44 (seventeen years ago)
Listening to Tapiola and his music for The Tempest -- I think I need to start working backward with this guy. These pieces seem, to my ears, very influenced by Debussy's La Mer and other impressionist works, but I have no evidence that Sibelius cared for Debussy's music at all. The music itself is pretty, certainly evocative of winds and sea and rain, and for what I know of Sibelius, reminds me of some of his symphonic writing. But prettier!
Inspired to listen as a result of general interest in Scandanvian music these days.
― Dominique, Thursday, 6 March 2014 22:47 (twelve years ago)
Dom if you can get score for those symphonies you'll be like "whaaaaat" bc Sibelius has the lightest touch with his orchestration, I mean, it is so simple, you can tell Shostakovich spent a lot of time with those scores
― continually topping myself (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 6 March 2014 23:01 (twelve years ago)
Big Sibelius festival in the Finland next year. I'm down for the whole thing. Visited his house at Ainola earlier in the year and have been deep in his symphonies since.
― Call the Cops, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 11:23 (twelve years ago)
Simon Rattle is conducting all seven symphonies in London next year. In my more insane moments I am tempted to buy tickets for the whole lot.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 11:43 (twelve years ago)
Do it!
― Call the Cops, Tuesday, 18 March 2014 12:41 (twelve years ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvuoWhTJbPA
― reggie (qualmsley), Saturday, 2 September 2017 18:45 (eight years ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Pu7Du2NQbk
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 26 January 2021 06:05 (five years ago)
The pianistic idiom wasn't his strong suit, but he did fashion a few such gems here and there. Kyllikki is definitely one of them.
― pomenitul, Tuesday, 26 January 2021 13:15 (five years ago)
Yes, it's the first time I really remember being moved by Sibelius piano
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 26 January 2021 16:00 (five years ago)