Jean Sibelius: Luonnotar / Tapiola / Vårsång / Rakastava / Pelléas and Mélisande Suite
Chandos

A staggering number of classical releases is issued each year, which can make it challenging to identify certain ones as standouts. One clear candidate for 2021, however, is this superb collection of Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) material by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Edward Gardner, and Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen. The well-known Tapiola and a number of less familiar pieces are performed exquisitely, making for a thoroughly rewarding set that should no doubt satisfy Sibelius aficionados.

Davidsen makes but two appearances on the release, but each is memorable. Her presence elevates the 1913 tone poem Luonnotar, its text taken from the Finnish national epic poem Kalevela, and she later distinguishes a part in the Pelléas and Mélisande suite. Joining the symphonic poem Tapiola, premiered by the New York Symphony in 1926, are Rakastava (The Lover, 1893; reworked 1912-13), for string orchestra, triangle, and timpani, and the brief tone poem Vårsång (Spring Song,1894; revised 1895 and 1902).

A mythological tale forms the basis for Luonnotar, the story having to do with the creation of the universe from a cosmic egg. In simplest terms, Luonnotar, maiden of the air, provides a safe place for a scaup, a mid-size diving duck, to build a nest and lay its egg. When a storm overturns the nest, the egg splits apart and its pieces separate into heaven and earth. Sibelius's signature is present throughout the work, from the dramatic horn chords and rumbling tympani to the animated woodwinds and strings; what individuates it most from many another Sibelius work is the soprano part, which Davidsen executes with exquisite command and sensitivity to dynamics. Drenched in mystery and tension, the material exudes a plaintive quality as it pushes into an ethereal and less tonally fixed zone.

Sharing the semi-programmatic character of Luonnotar is Tapiola, its tone poem form granting Sibelius more freedom than that provided by the symphony. Tone painting is paramount here as the composer fully embraces the explorative potential the genre offers. In place of an opening main theme and contrasting secondary theme, Tapiola blossoms from an opening cell into a state of continuous metamorphosis. The work's title derives from Tapio, the king of the forest, and consistent with that Sibelius conveys the ancient majesty and brooding mystery of the setting in musical form. An impression is evoked of forest activity surreptitiously observed, with the rapid movements of woodland creatures and abrupt shifts in weather patterns intimated by flurries of strings and woodwinds. Peaceful episodes voiced by silken strings are followed by fortissimo blasts by horns and drums as the compositional design explores contrasts of mood, texture, tempo, and rhythm. Sibelius transports the listener into this mystical natural realm for an entrancing eighteen minutes.

Fauré was the first composer to write music inspired by Maurice Maeterlinck's 1892 play Pelléas et Mélisande (whereas Fauré's incidental music first appeared with a production of the play in 1898, his four-movement suite received its world premiere in 1912), with Debussy, Schoenberg, and Sibelius following in turn. A suite like Fauré's, Sibelius's Pelléas och Mélisande (1904-05) derives from incidental music written for the symbolist drama. Its dreamlike character lent itself naturally to Debussy's operatic treatment, but, as his eight-movement suite shows, Sibelius proved a good match for Maeterlinck's material too. The majestic opening movement, “Vid slottsporten” (At the Castle Gate), captivates instantly and pulls the listener seductively into the anti-naturalistic realm of the play. Animated by a lovely melancholy figure in the cor anglais and sensuous strings and woodwinds, “Mélisande” entices in its dignified introduction to the character. While impending turbulence is intimated by “På stranden vid hafvet” (At the Seashore), a much sunnier tone informs the waltz-styled “Vid en källa i parken” (By a Spring in the Park). Midway through the suite, Davidsen returns for the work's only vocal movement, “De trenne blinda systrar” (The Three Blind Sisters), the ballad sung by Mélisande in the play and a further testament to the soprano's artistry. Following it is the sweetly bucolic “Pastorale” and “Mélisande vid spinnrocken” (Mélisande at the Spinning Wheel), which hints at turmoil in an insistent string figure and anticipates “Mélisandes död” (The Death of Mélisande), her tragic end conveyed with moving solemnity in the strings and writing by the composer that's alternately lyrical and majestic.

September 2021