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Incidental music Archive

SIBELIUS: Scaramouche – Soloists/ Turku Philharmonic Orch./Leif Segerstam – Naxos

SIBELIUS: Scaramouche – Soloists/ Turku Philharmonic Orch./Leif Segerstam – Naxos

by | Mar 17, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

Sibelius’ colorful theatrical score resplendently revealed. JEAN SIBELIUS: Scaramouche – Bendik Goldstein, viola – Roi Ruottinin, cello/ Turku Philharmonic Orch./Leif Segerstam – Naxos 8.573511, 71:01, *****: Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) wrote a large amount of music for the theatrical stage that deserves to be heard, and recordings are virtually the only way to hear them, unless you are fortunate enough to live in Finland. Most of these scores fall into the category of incidental music for plays and historical pageants—in the form of complete scores or suites that the composer arranged for concert performances. In his day, theatrical presenters employed orchestras to accompany their performances, some larger than symphony orchestras. These scores are the equivalent of movie music of today. Sibelius was adept at matching music with the atmosphere and emotion of a specific scene. His colorful orchestration and instrumental timbre made him one of the few major composers who excelled at writing incidental music. In 1912 Sibelius was commissioned by the Danish publisher Wilhelm Hansen to compose music for Poul Knudsen’s tragic dance pantomime Scaramouche. A few months later the composer received a revised libretto that included spoken dialogue and music for the complete pantomime rather than just a few […]

SIBELIUS: Swanwhite; Odian; A Lonely Ski Trail; The Countess’ Portrait – Segerstam cond. – Naxos

SIBELIUS: Swanwhite; Odian; A Lonely Ski Trail; The Countess’ Portrait – Segerstam cond. – Naxos

by | Jan 27, 2016 | Classical CD Reviews

Segerstam extends his Sibelius commemoration with rare scores of incidental music. SIBELIUS: Swanwhite – Complete Incidental Music, Op. 54; Odian – Complete Incidental Music, Op. 8; A Lonely Ski Trail; The Countess’ Portrait – Riko Eklundh, narr./ Turku Philharmonic Orch./ Leif Segerstam – Naxos 8.573341, 63:34 (9/25/15) ****: As part of the 150th Sibelius anniversary celebrations, conductor Leif Segerstam leads a disc (rec. Jan-Sept 2014) of the composer’s assorted theater incidental music, beginning with his 1908 setting for August Strindberg’s Swanwhite. The playwright Strindberg fell under the spell of Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolist play Pelleas et Melisande. Swanwhite was Strindberg’s response to Maeterlinck’s fusion of dream and reality. It is a story in the fairly-tale mold, about a fifteen-year-old princess who lives in a fairy-tale castle with her father, a duke, and with her wicked stepmother, the latter of whom keeps Swanwhite unkempt. The princess Swanwhite has been promised to the king of a neighboring country, but she falls in love with the prince, who is the king’s messenger. The story shares several motifs with the Tristan myth; for instance, the lovers will share a bed which has a sword placed between them. For the play Sibelius wrote a horn call […]