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MS 6157 •• ® “Columbia", '‘Masterworks",@ , Marcas Peg, Printed in U. S, A, COLUMBIA GUARANTCED HIGH FIDELITY

MASTERWORKS

SIBELIUS- CONCERTO IN D MINOR, Op. 47, FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA DAVID OISTRAKH, Violin, and THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA, EUGENE ORMANDY, Conductor/THE SWAN OF TUONELA, Op. 22 On this disc that almost legendary Soviet vio¬

linist, David Oistrakh, makes his first American

recording of what is acknowledged to be one

of the extremely few classics of twentieth cen¬

tury violin literature, the D Minor Concerto

by Jean Sibelius. He brings to it the beautifully

rich tone, the fabled technique and the musical

perception that made his other Columbia re¬

cordings so memorable—the Mendelssohn E

Minor and Mozart Fourth Concertos (ML

5085), the Shostakovitch (ML 5077) and the

Bach Second (ML 5087).

Sharing honors are The Philadelphia Orches¬

tra, which Mr. Oistrakh considers “unique in

terms of artistic caliber and virtuosity,” and

its distinguished conductor Eugene Ormandy

whose gripping interpretations of Sibelius’ mu¬

sic have won highest praise from the composer

himself and from critics and audiences all

over the world.

Two extra-musical characteristics that per¬

meate the art of Jean Sibelius are his love of

nature and his love of the Kalevala, the great

epic of Finnish mythology. “I love the mys¬

terious sounds of the fields and forests, water

and mountains,” Sibelius said. “It pleases me

greatly to be called an artist of nature, for

nature has truly been the book of books for

me.”His profound association with Kalevala

is obvious in his tone-poems, notably those

that make up the Lemminkdinen Suite. It is

virtually impossible, in fact, to listen to a com¬

position by Sibelius—whether it is the Violin

Concerto, a symphony or quartet—without

sensing in it the murmur of giant pine forests,

the impassioned sound of bardic songs, the

haunting echo of far-off, magical things.

Like Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky,

Sibelius wrote only one violin concerto, which

was his only concerto for any solo instrument

and orchestra. Sibelius had an affection for

the work that lasted all his life. The violin was

his instrument. There is an appealing story

that as a boy Sibelius would often climb a

huge, rock overlooking a lake and there, with

only the water and trees and stones to hear,

would play his violin in a kind of communion

with nature. Later, when his music studies

were completed, Sibelius taught violin for a

while and played second fiddle in the string

quartet at the Helsinki conservatory.

Sibelius composed the D Minor Concerto in

1903 when he was thirty-eight years old and

revised it extensively two years later. It is a

milestone in his career, standing between his

Second and Third Symphonies. It seems to

have been written, says Julian Herbage, “at

the pre-ordained moment when Sibelius had

achieved his full stature as a composer without

having embarked on his individual path' as a

symphonist.”

The Concerto makes extraordinary virtuoso

demands upon the soloist, yet the orchestra is

cast in a role of equal importance. It is no

mere supporting partner.

The first mo\tmtrA{Allegro moderato, D Minor,

2/2) has a wild, rhapsodic sweep. This charac¬

ter is sustained and enlarged by many cadenza¬

like passages which are not so much display-

measures for the soloist as they are what Olin

Downes called “free poetical developments of

the thought by the unaccompanied instrument,

while the orchestra carries on symphonic

developments.”

The second movement {Adagio di molto, B-flat

Major, 4/4) is far more conventional than the

highly original first movement. It is an uncom¬

plicated romanza in which the noble main

theme is glowingly announced by solo violin.

The dramatic middle section derives from a

figure in the introduction.

The third movement {Allegro, ma non troppo,

D Major, 3/4) is a vigorous rondo which

Sibelius is said to have described as a “Danse

Macabre.” “The violin sweeps and skirls over

an accompaniment of intentional monotony,”

wrote Olin Downes, “or screams like a banshee

over the tumult. The end is a sudden change

from D Minor to D Major with great shouts

of the brass and a mood of defiance.” This

remarkable music leaves Sir Donald Tovey

with a more cheerful emotion. The main theme

of the rondo seems to him to be “a polonaise

for polar bears,” while the movement as a

whole impresses him greatly with its “gigantic

proportions and brilliant high spirits without

banality.” A dazzling portion of this finale is

the long passage in harmonics for the solo

violin.

So enraptured was Sibelius with the legends

and heroes of his native Finland that he once

seriously considered making an opera out of

certain episodes in the Kalevala. Although

nothing came of this particular project, he did

compose an extended suite inspired by the

adventures of Lemminkainen, one of the major

heroes of the bcok of Finnish mythology. This

suite consists of four tone-poems of which

The Swan of Tuonela is one.

The movements are followed by their timings. Side I—Allegro moderato—14:52; Adagio di molto—8:22. Side II—Allegro, ma

Lemminkainen, according to legend, was a

bold, carefree adventurer, always saved from

his own hardihood by his own or his mother’s

magic. He is promised the hand of the beau¬

tiful daughter of Pohja if he will first perform

certain fantastic feats, including the capture

on snowshoes of the elk of Hiisi, the shooting

of the Swan of Tuonela with one arrow and

the harnessing of fire-breathing steeds. In the

course of carrying out these tasks the hero is

slain and his body is carried down the river

to Tuonela and there it is carved up. However,

Lemminkainen’s mother hears of her son’s

death. She seeks him out and by means of

her magic art restores him to life.

Tuonela is the Hades of Finnish mythology,

the kingdom of Death. It is surrounded by a

dark river of rapid current. On this river floats

a majestic swan and sings.

Eugene Ormandy and David Oistrakh

In Sibelius’ tone-poem, which he composed

in 1893, the song of the swan is given to the

English horn. MORRIS HASTINGS

David Oistrakh, born in Odessa in 1908, won

fame in Russia as early as 1930, but it was

some years before the rest of the world heard

at first hand his extraordinary art. During the

season of 1935-36 he made a tour of Sweden,

Turkey and Poland, and a year later he became

internationally famous by winning the Inter¬

national Competition in Brussels, triumphing

over some sixty-eight violinists from twenty-

one countries.

Oistrakh made his first United States tour in

1955, appearing in recital and appearing with

the major American orchestras. He returned

to the United States during the 1959-60 season.

Eugene Ormandy, born in Budapest in 1899,

has been the brilliant permanent conductor of

The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1938. Prior

to this appointment Mr. Ormandy was direc¬

tor of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra,

which he left in 1936 to become associate con¬

ductor with Leopold Stokowski of The Phila¬

delphia Orchestra.

He is a conductor of wide variety. His readings

of the romantic composers have been greatly

praised all over the world, as have his inter¬

pretations of the works of Debussy and Ravel.

His sympathy with the contemporary com¬

posers is warm, and he has performed much

new music by such a varied list of composers

as Copland, Hindemith, Honegger, Thomson,

Blitzstein and Schuman. Cover Photograph Jay Maisel

non tanto—7:25; The Swan of Tuonela—9:51—P.D. • Library of Congress catalog card number R60-1222 applies to this record

FIDELITY RECORDING IS DESIGNED FOR USE ON 33H RPM STEREOPHONIC REPRODUCERS. THIS COLUMBIA STEREO

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