Composing at the turn of the last century, Sibelius has often proved difficult to categorise, neither subscribing wholly to the development of atonality in the manner of his 'modernist' contemporaries, nor reverting fully to late-nineteenth century romanticism. It is, however, irrefutable that Sibelius' output is largely nationalistic in tone, and he figures as a central composer in the creation of a Finnish national sound.
Marking the fiftieth anniversary of the composer's death, it is the aim of the Sibelius and Beyond festival to continue the celebration of Sibelius' innate 'Finnishness' and 'to commemorate the composer and to explore the music of other Finns who are not often as much heard outside Finland'. Running until 5 December 2007, the festival's concerts are presented in a variety of London venues.
At the time of Sibelius' birth in 1865, Finland was a country divided by language; a minority of elite Swedish-speaking Finns dominated the government and education and effectively ruled the majority of Finnish speakers. Born to a Swedish-speaking family, Jean Sibelius was, nonetheless, enrolled in the first Finnish-speaking secondary school in the country. It was not until later, close to the end of the nineteenth century, however, that Sibelius developed strong nationalist tendencies, most likely when he met his future wife Aino Järnefelts, whose family were devoted supporters of the growing pro-Finnish-language movement.
Although Sibelius' most enduring output is his orchestral works, his first compositions as a student at the Helsinki Music Institute in 1885-9 (now renamed the Sibelius Academy) were mostly chamber works for piano, or for string trio or quartet. Highlighting this aspect of the composer's oeuvre, thus far in the Sibelius and Beyond festival the Wigmore Hall has played host to a number of chamber music concerts, including lectures hosted by Julian Phillips and a myriad of Finnish artists including the Inkinen Piano Trio, Mari Palo, Jussi Myllys, the Grasbeck Trio and Paavali Jumppanen.
Nevertheless, after a turbulent year in Berlin Sibelius moved to Vienna in 1890, an event that is generally regarded as a turning point in his career. Engaging in the topical Brahms-Bruckner controversy, Sibelius clearly moved away from the Brahmsian chamber music style of the Viennese liberals in order to engage with the progressive - and largely orchestral - stylings of Bruckner. Returning to Finland in 1891, his interest in Finnish nationalism was revived and he began work on Kullervo. Premiered in 1892, it was the first in a large number of nationalist 'tone-poems' that preceded the First Symphony in 1899-1900, the genre that was to dominate his oeuvre and the medium in which he experimented with structure and musical logic.
The highlight of this festival then, is of course the symphony cycle by the Los Angeles Philharmonic with their Finnish music director Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Barbican Centre. The cycle opens on 1 November with Symphony No. 2, a deeply sonorous and luscious symphony that received immediate success on its premiere in 1902, although its classical four-movement structure and rich harmonies still owe much to Beethoven and the Austro-German Romantic symphony. The concert also presents a work by conductor Salonen featuring sopranos Piia and Anu Komsi.
On 2 November, the symphony cycle continues with Symphony No. 4 and Symphony No. 7. Written in 1909-11 like its exact contemporary, Mahler's Ninth Symphony, the Fourth is much darker in character than Sibelius' previous three symphonies and is deeply profound and introspective. Whilst it is the most dissonant and discontinuous of Sibelius' symphonies, it was not a move towards modernism: the composer's own often recalled comments on the Fourth state that the symphony 'stands as a protest against present-day music. It has nothing, absolutely nothing of the circus about it'. In direct contrast to the Fourth, the epic Seventh Symphony, the composer's last, written in 1924, is a one-movement work in which Sibelius developed such organic unity of form that sections are wholly indistinguishable.
On 9 November, the cycle returns to the earlier works, Symphonies No 1 and 3, presented with Kaijja Saariaho's Quatre instants, written for and performed here by soprano Karita Mattila. The following evening completes the cycle with Sibelius' Symphony No. 6 and Symphony No 5. The Fifth Symphony marks the composer's increasing preoccupation with formal experimentation, and attempts a more organic musical form and musical sound, most recently classified by James Hepokoski as 'sonata deformation'. It is likely that the final three symphonies were related or conceived in parallel, yet, as arguably the central work in Sibelius' symphonic output and easily the most enduring, the Fifth provides a fitting finale to the cycle.
Although Sibelius lived long into the 1950s he ceased composing in 1931. During the 1930s his reception was much polarised: whilst he enjoyed popularity in Britain, German-speaking countries rejected him, not least due to the publication of Adorno's 'Glosse über Sibelius' that accused the composer of ineptitude and of ideologies close to those of the Third Reich. Indeed not until the advent of minimalism and post-minimalism in the 1970s and 1980s did Sibelius' popularity begin to increase again; nor did the composer and his structural innovations become the subject of new research until this time. With a complete forthcoming scholarly edition of Sibelius' works emanating from Finland, as well as numerous festivals such as Sibelius and Beyond, it seems that Sibelius' stature in history is finally receiving the recognition it deserves.
Other notable concerts in the festival include Leig Segerstam conducting the Royal Academy of Music Concert Orchestra on Thursday 1 November at the Duke's Hall, Royal Academy of Music, featuring performances of the Karelia Suite and Finlandia. Segerstam also conducts the Philharmonia at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 4 November in a performance of Sibelius' Violin Concerto with Julian Rachlin. The English Chamber Orchestra under Ralf Gothóni plays Cadogan Hall on Wednesday 21 November, including music by contemporary Finnish composers Aulis Sallinen and Einojuhani Rautavaara, whilst the Niko Kumpuvaara presents an evening of accordion music on Tuesday 27 November in St George's Hanover Square.
Kari Kriiku, most recently heard in London at the BBC Proms performance of fellow Finn Magnus Lindberg's Clarinet Concerto, plays with the Avanti! Quartet on Thursday 29 November at St Giles Cripplegate, and the final concert in the festival features an all-Sibelius programme at Cadogan Hall on Wednesday 5 December, when John Storgards conducts the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra.
Recommended Recordings:
The Symphonies: Sibelius - San Francisco Symphony/Herbert Blomstedt (Decca)
Sibelius: Tone Poems and Symphonies - Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Mariss Jansons (EMI Classics)
Sibelius: Orchestral Songs - Helsinki Philharmonic/Leif Segerstam (Ondine)
For more information on the Festival, visit www.sibeliusandbeyond.com.
Other links of interest: Sibelius Society and www.sibelius.fi