Sibelius 8th?

[mbhaub]

Well, here's something quite interesting...

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Is+this+the+sound+of+Sibeliuss+lost+Eighth+Symphony/1135269867060

Could this mean that the complete BIS edition needs a supplement?

[Christo]

If I understand this interesting article correctly, what we can hear now are three fragments. That may have a relation with the lost Eight. Not exactly a completely new `Sibelius edition' then. 

[eschiss1]

In regards something like this, I'm happy for better-than-nothing when I'm surprised at anything at all- thank you.

[Mykulh]

These three excerpts make me hope I live long enough to hear a complete reconstruction of this work. Even fragments by Sibelius have such distinction that his high place in the musical patheon is once again confirmed. Let us hope that the schoars and musicians keep at this with great determination.

[TerraEpon]

Geeze. Sibelius is my favorite composer....but that. I mean....the third excerpt was very nice, but the first two, especially the first one....it sounds like him but man it actually makes me happy this thing is gone because if the rest sounded like that I'd be horrified.

[kolaboy]

These excerpts are amazing.
From the article I gather that it remains to be seen if enough material will turn up to make reconstruction a viable possibility, but gott in himmel. even the possibility of such a thing is enough to make me want to do my sit-ups and take my vitamins. In the early 1980s I had a dream that I found an album of the 8th in a second-hand shop, and ended up doing a painting of it:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/812/theimpossiblesibeliusby.png/

I dearly hope it proves prophetic 

[eschiss1]

hee. my dreams of finding works in shops end up being of Fuchs string quartets (which hadn't yet been recorded at the time)...
wonder if before the new Sibelius Edition was issued anyone knew enough late Sibelius to be able to track any self-borrowings that might be in these excerpts.

[kolaboy]

I've yet to dream of finding chamber music - though I did once have a dream in which I found (again, in a second hand shop) an album of Chopin's preludes performed by Carl Tausig...

But back to Sibelius.
I've often wondered - based on absolutely nothing that I've read - if he was at all afflicted by the dreaded 9th symphony fear/curse...

[Latvian]

Magnificent!

So tantalizing...

By the way, I wonder if any of the forum members on this discussion are familiar with a book titled "Winter Fire," by William Trotter? It's a marvelous bit of historical fiction, set in World War II. An ambitious German conductor is sent to Finland and befriends Sibelius, who shows him his sketches for the 8th Symphony. It's a terrific read, and there's much, much more to the story, both real history and overt fantasy, and various actual musical personages appear in the story, including Hans Pfitzner. Now that I've heard those clips, I'll have to take it off the shelf and read it again... it's been a few years.

[Holger]

mhaub, thanks a lot for sharing the link. I had some trouble in viewing the video at first but now it works. For my part, the three fragments (and especially the first one) do sound absolutely fascinating. Sakari Oramo talks about a kind of "archaic dissonance" in the music and I fully agree. This is really exciting! It shows Sibelius really intended to go further with his Eighth, to create a piece which adds new facets to his style - and this is something which makes me very curious about how the whole symphony might have sounded like, since this is really new Sibelius (even if he definitely remains true to himself).

Like other members I hope more stuff will be found so that one day we can maybe hear a reconstruction.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Fascinating. A big thankyou to mhaub!

[jimmosk]

kolaboy, that's an awesome counterfactual painting! I'd ask permission to use it as my usericon on another Classical Music discussion board, but I already have a factual icon I like as much.

Latvian, I haven't read that, but have you or anyone else read the short story "The Receivers" by Alastair Reynolds? It's set in an alternate history in which the First World War has dragged on and on, and its main characters are two army audio technicians in the 1930s working at a "listening post", a primitive acoustic alternative to radar used to hear enemy aircraft, and discussing their composing days. They're Butterworth and Vaughan Williams. Google will locate which books the story's collected in, and let you read a few excerpts.

-J

--
Jim Moskowitz
The Unknown Composers Page: http://kith.org/jimmosk/TOC.html
My latest list of unusual classical CDs for auction: http://tinyurl.com/jimmoskCD

[Dundonnell]

Just as a coda.....

On BBC3 tonight Sir Colin Davis conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in that magnificently red-blooded, sweeping work "Kullervo"- a piece I have always loved. Never could understand the composer's apparent disdain for the work

A performance from 1992. Available in the UK on IPlayer for the next week.

[Latvian]

Latvian, I haven't read that, but have you or anyone else read the short story "The Receivers" by Alastair Reynolds?

Fascinating! No, I haven't encountered it, but will certainly seek it out!