SIBELIUS Belshazzar’s Feast

“Segerstam directs all this material with unfailing perception and secures some commendably watchful playing from his excellent Turku band. Sound, too, is undistractingly truthful, full-bodied and atmospheric, and there are useful notes by Dominic Wells. Roll on the next instalment!” --Gramophone Magazine, September 2015

“The lesser pieces here are all attractive...Segerstam has become one of the very finest Sibelius conductors, and his Turku orchestra rightly plays as if these were all major works, making this highly recommendable.” --BBC Music Magazine, October 2015 *****

Pia Pajala (soprano) - Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam

Alongside the great symphonies and tone poems, music for the theatre played an important rolê in Sibelius’s development. From exquisite nocturnal tranquility to the macabre ‘Dance of Life’, Belshazzar’s Feast is an exotic tale of seduction and tragedy to which Sibelius responded with some of his most hauntingly beautiful writing for the stage. The early Menuetto and lively Cortège were considered good enough by the composer to be recycled for further stage productions, while the Overture in E and Scène de Ballet started life as Sibelius’s first attempt at composing a symphony.

This is the second of a six-volume set of orchestral works by Jean Sibelius which explores his prolific but infrequently-heard work beyond the core oeuvre of the symphonies, violin concerto and tone poems. Conductor Leif Segerstam has been acclaimed for his many recordings with numerous orchestras, and was awarded the annual Finnish State Prize for Music in 2004 and in 2005 the highly esteemed Sibelius Medal. His recordings for Naxos include a “skillfully and sweepingly paced” Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (Classic FM on 8660152-54), his conducting of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck regarded as “a giant-killer” (Gramophone on 8660076-77). The Turku Philharmonic is a platinum record-making and award winning orchestra, and we are confident that the sheer quality of this new series will guarantee wide interest in the relatively neglected works of Finland’s greatest and most influential composer.

Album Reviews

De Profundis

'De Profundis' - its title taken from a 1998 piece by the young Lithuanian composer Raminta Serksnyte featured on the album - is designed to be, as Kremer puts it in his notes, 'fuel for the soul,' drawing from a deep artistic and emotional well. The composers, whose works span nearly two centuries, are: Jean Sibelius, Arvo Part, Raminta Serksnyte (whose piece, 'De Profundis,' lends the album its title), Robert Schumann, Michael Nyman, Franz Schubert, Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer, Dmitri Shostakovich, Lera Auerbach, Astor Piazzolla, Georgs Pelecis, and Alfred Schnittke.

Kremer writes of them, 'Out of the depths' these artists cry out for a better world... Their spiritual missive, like oil, can sustain humans by appealing to their profoundest emotions, by letting them open up, 12 pieces selected for this album sends its own individual message to the listener, one that my colleagues from Kremerata Baltica and I have tried to illuminate.'

The album also features the youthful Kremerata Baltica, the chamber ensemble of fellow Latvian musicians he founded. Kremer's 2009 Nonesuch release with Kremerata Baltica was the acclaimed two-disc 'Mozart: The Complete Violin Concertos,' which BBC Music Magazine, in a five-star review, called 'an altogether impressive achievement.' The New York Times concurred: 'Gidon Kremer's great interpretative strength has always been his ability to make a work, however familiar, entirely his own.'

Kremer and Kremerata Baltica will perform selections from 'De Profundis' on their 2010-11 tour, which will include visits to most major American markets. Regarding the ensemble's interpretative powers, the Los Angeles Times has declared, 'They are utterly alive to the possibilities in the scores. They make every detail stand out; they play with an overpowering sense of joy... and they are deep.'

SIBELIUS Kuolema & King Kristian II

"Segerstam directs with his customary big heart and acute sensitivity for texture and mood… The young Finnish baritone Waltteri Torikka gives a wonderful account of the haunting ‘Fool’s Song of the Spider’… Soprano Pia Pajala makes a heady thing of Elsa’s song ‘Eilaa, eilaa’, while Torikka’s lustrous timbre sent shivers down my spine in ‘Paavali’s Song’. …Segerstam offers most attentive support. The engineering is truthful throughout." --Gramophone, August 2015

"Segerstam draws fine, idiomatic playing from the Turku players, allowing the music to speak for itself… Recommended." --Classical Net, August 2015

Jean Sibelius was the most significant figure in the formation of Finland’s musical identity. Beyond the famous symphonies and tone poems he was prolific in other genres, including music for the theatre. King Christian II and Kuolema ensured Sibelius’s fame throughout Europe, the latter including the haunting melody (track 2) which would later become the Valse triste. The Two Songs from Twelfth Night contrast the spectre of death with more comical moods, an effect also to be heard in one of Sibelius’s least performed orchestral works, the Overture in A minor.

Album Reviews