Leif Segerstam, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra - Jean Sibelius: Jedermann; Two Serious Melodies; In memoriam (2015)

Leif Segerstam continues his series with the Turku Philharmonic of recordings of Sibelius incidental music here. He has already given us Kuolema, King Christian II, Belshazzar’s Feast and Pelléas et Mélisande. Now with Jedermann his task was considerably more difficult due to the fact that Sibelius never prepared an orchestral suite as he had for much of his other incidental music. There was a good reason for this, because the music itself relies to a great degree on the play’s text and much of it does not stand as well on its own. That said, there is more than enough here to sustain interest and virtually all of it sounds like no one but Sibelius. It is just that most of the music is slow and sombre. Five of the 17 tracks allotted for Jedermann here are marked largo, adagio di molto, or lento, and much of this is quiet. The first eleven tracks, lasting only 13 minutes, on the other hand, contain some lively and tuneful music.

Jedermann begins with loud brass chords followed by bells playing an interval of a fourth that represent God’s disappointment with mankind, represented by Everyman, and a request of Death to take Everyman. There follow five short vocal movements featuring the soloists and choir. The first and longest of these is a delightful Dance Song, sung by the tenor and choir and superbly performed here. The other soloists have less to do, though they perform very well, too. The choir does not re-enter until the last track when they sing, “Gloria in excelsis Deo”. This represents the defeat of the Devil and eternal life for Everyman, ending the work on an upbeat note. It is also unusual, as the male chorus chants underneath the choir’s “Gloria”. However, all of this is only a third of the score with the rest being slow and rather static. Some of the slow music has the added interest of an organ chorale with strings (track 14) that in its repetition anticipates Arvo Pärt’s “holy minimalism”, and later there is the unusual combination of organ, piano, and strings. When all is said and done, there is more to Jedermann than is revealed on a first or second hearing even if one’s patience is tried at times. The score could not receive a more dedicated or idiomatic performance than the one it receives here. Segerstam continues to impress as one of the best Sibelius conductors around and he is given a recording of depth and richness.

To fill out the disc, Naxos apparently decided to retain the mood of Jedermann, for the rest is also dark and subdued. I found the Two Serious Melodies for violin and orchestra inferior to the Violin Concerto or the composer’s Humoresques. The first, titled Cantique, is wistful and melancholy and resembles the Violin Concerto in some ways. It contains rumbling timpani and prominent use of harp. Violinist Palmu is a fine exponent, contributing an admirable performance. This piece, which ends on E-flat major, is somewhat lighter than its companion, Devotion. Palmu’s rich tone really tells there and the full sound is to the music’s advantage. Devotion is agitated and restless compared with Cantique and darker, ending in the key of D minor—the key of the Violin Concerto. Although these two pieces don’t add up to much, they don’t detract from the programme either. They seem to belong here and continue the overall mood of the music on the CD.

The disc concludes with what is arguably the best of the works on offer, In memoriam, which Sibelius composed after a life-saving throat operation and at a time when he was preoccupied with death. He had heard Mahler’s Fifth Symphony in Berlin in 1905 and that apparently left a lasting impression on him. There are obvious echoes of the symphony’s first movement funeral march in this piece, though harmonically it sounds wholly Sibelian. Segerstam and the Turku orchestra give a powerful account and one I prefer to Osmo Vänskä’s fine Lahti Symphony recording (review review). Segerstam’s has deeper sound, slightly broader tempos, and more flexible phrasing.

Segerstam continues to do Sibelius proud and anyone collecting his series with this orchestra should not be deterred from adding this volume. Granted, you have to be in the right mood to appreciate such a dose of death-haunted music. While the CD booklet contains Dominic Wells’ detailed notes and the Finnish texts and English translations of the vocal numbers, the cover depicting the “grim reaper” says it all.

Review by Leslie Wright, MusicWeb-International

Pride of place on the third volume in Leif Segerstam’s Turku PO series for Naxos of lesser-known Sibelius goes to the incidental music that the composer provided for a 1905 production in Helsinki’s Swedish Theatre of Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolist drama Pelléas et Mélisande. Sibelius salvaged all but one number for the orchestral suite – go to track 9 to hear the dusky three-minute sequence containing some imaginative writing for principal cello that he left out – and of course we also get to hear Mélisande’s haunting Act 3 song ‘The Three Blind Sisters’ in its original vocal guise (soprano Pia Pajala sings it most eloquently, too). Segerstam masterminds a pungently characterised and keenly perceptive rendering. His daringly spacious treatment of the concluding Andante (entitled ‘Death of Mélisande’ in the suite) tops the seven-minute mark, but so sure is his control of line it never drags.

Next comes the unpublished and often appealing Musik zu einer Szene, dating from 1904 and originally designed to accompany a tableau. All but one of the four remaining items – namely the charming pastoral miniature Autrefois of 1919 with its fetching vocalise for two voices– are waltzes: the manuscript of the innocuous Morceau romantique (1925) was auctioned to raise money for a children’s hospital, but the less said about the feeble Valse chevaleresque (1921) the better.

The lion’s share of Vol 4 is given over to what is only the second complete recording of the extensive score that Sibelius supplied for the Finnish National Theatre’s November 1916 staging of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s Jedermann, anadaptation of the medieval morality play Everyman. This dates from the period when the composer was immersed in the second version of his Fifth Symphony and was a venture that incontestably ignited his imagination – just sample the searchingly inspired string-writing in Nos 11 and 14, the commodious skip of No 4 (‘Dance Song’) and No 8 (‘Oi, Lempi, armas Lempi!’), or the stoically affirmative angels’ chorus which closes proceedings. Throughout, Sibelius employs his varied vocal, choral and instrumental forces (including piano and organ) with striking resourcefulness. Segerstam’s often daringly spacious conception absorbingly complements Vänskä’s splendid Lahti account – diehard Sibelians will, I fancy, want to have both – while Turku PO member Mikaela Palmu responds with big-hearted dedication in the lovely Two Serious Melodies for violin and orchestra (1914 15). Alas, to my ears at any rate, Segerstam’s waywardly measured view of the glowering 1910 tone-poem In memoriam doesn’t come off, but everything else on this finely engineered disc most certainly does.

Review by Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

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log date: 2015-12-06 03:12:51

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Mikaela Palmu, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam / Sibelius - Jederman
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
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DR12 -11.67 dB -28.65 dB 5:51 18-Two Serious Melodies, Op.77 - No.1 Cantique: Laetare anima mea
DR13 -5.93 dB -25.27 dB 4:27 19-Two Serious Melodies, Op.77 - No.2 Devotion: Ab imo pectore
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================================================================================

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam / Sibelius - Jederman
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR10 -1.78 dB -20.05 dB 0:09 01-Jedermann, Op.83 - I. Largo
DR11 -0.20 dB -17.86 dB 1:32 02-Jedermann, Op.83 - II. Largo
DR11 -15.39 dB -31.72 dB 1:24 03-Jedermann, Op.83 - III. Allegro -
DR11 -9.51 dB -24.42 dB 0:24 04-Jedermann, Op.83 - IIIa. Allegro comodo
DR14 -4.31 dB -23.49 dB 3:19 05-Jedermann, Op.83 - IV. Tanssilaulu (Dance Song): Me kutsun saimme …
DR4 -10.52 dB -34.47 dB 0:15 06-Jedermann, Op.83 - V. On riemussa hetket mennehet taas
DR8 -19.61 dB -31.73 dB 0:17 07-Jedermann, Op.83 - VI. Kun vetta sataa, niin kastutaan
DR13 -12.22 dB -32.49 dB 0:49 08-Jedermann, Op.83 - VII. Maat ja metsat viherioivat …
DR10 -5.53 dB -23.28 dB 0:40 09-Jedermann, Op.83 - VIII. Oi, Lempi, armas Lempi! …
DR12 -9.53 dB -25.79 dB 1:15 10-Jedermann, Op.83 - IX. Maat ja metsat viherioivat …
DR12 -8.52 dB -25.53 dB 2:56 11-Jedermann, Op.83 - X. Allegro molto
DR14 -12.66 dB -34.06 dB 13:07 12-Jedermann, Op.83 - XI. Largo, sempre misteroiso
DR12 -14.09 dB -31.56 dB 2:43 13-Jedermann, Op.83 - XII. Adagio di molto I
DR10 -13.10 dB -27.56 dB 4:07 14-Jedermann, Op.83 - XIII. Adagio di molto II
DR13 -13.69 dB -32.50 dB 8:40 15-Jedermann, Op.83 - XIV. Largo e molto - Doloroso - Con grande dolore
DR13 -8.77 dB -29.98 dB 4:20 16-Jedermann, Op.83 - XV. Lento
DR12 -4.11 dB -19.75 dB 3:28 17-Jedermann, Op.83 - XVI. Gloria in excelsis Deo - Sempre dolce sin a Fine
DR13 -0.20 dB -20.77 dB 13:05 20-In Memoriam, Op.59
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 18
Official DR value: DR11

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