which of their orchestras do the finns seem to prefer?

dj

Lahti symphony seems to be 1st on critics list. Meaning they are the prime (critics MUST say).
Then there are Helsinki Philharmonic (HPO) and Radio symphony orchestra (RSO) both residing in Helsinki.

HPO gave a vast amount of premieres of Sibelius works with composer conducting and RSO are very close to the tradition. Some differences between the orchestras are really on Sibelius just the spoken and "noted comments behalf of the composer" on the old note material that HPO uses. So HPO is a dirrect link with the composer from the archives and of course same people giged with RSO and spred the word. But then again there are two great good symphony orchestras in major Helsinki area, Philharmonic and Radio (and I have to add The Finnish national opera orchestra.. At best nights it is really really good!). Helsinki Philharmonic is a more traditional orchestra (with vigorous Sibelius tradition and the best ticket sales in Finland). RSO is the best orchestra in Finland (as their conductor Sakari Oramo says ((of course!))). I think they are very good, both of them. If you need to have a campaign then go and listen and make a difference.

Lahti is a special thing that I do not know so much. It seems that they are very convinced to their stuff and everything was there in the year it needed to be. Osmo Vänskä must be the energizer of the whole product and quality. I have heard some really good concerts and really really awful Sibelius stuff live.. Stupid playing and evenmore stupid interpretations of Maestro Sibelius. But I have heard the best 1st ever there too.. Even in their own concert hall which is the absolute prime and best in Finland!

Tampere Philharmonic is a very good orchestra, tiny history of a munincipal orchestra. Nothing special. But the orchestra is absolutely on a par the Helsinki orchestras and they have the advantage of great acoustics of the Tampere Talo-hall. As Lahti has with its Sibelius-Talo.

The two capital area orchestras lie in wait for the new music house aprx. 2009. The one that the whole capital of Finland has awaited for a long long time. Aprx 100 years and still counting. And this project has not been received so well among Finns...

There are also many good orchestras in Finland but these popped to me. Check 'em out ..

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i shall. thanx.

dj

So my "checkout-list" for Finland with Sibelius goes like this:

The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orhestra
Helsinki Philharmonic
Finnish Radio Symphony (BBC of Finland)
Tapiola Sinfonietta
Tampere Philharmonic
Lahti Symphony
Oulu Philharmonic
Turku Philharmonic (The oldest in Finland)

and so on..

This is just a "I've heard 'em all"- list and have to add here: The little chambre orchestra "The Ostrobothnian Chamber Orhestra" is very short of the best orchestra in this Tellus. Check them out. Really! I have heard Lahti SO with Vänskä only so I am a bit shitty to tell more about it. But Helsinki PO really delivers their goods. I just have to add that from the listeners point of a view. Radio orchestra is awesome too.

'a bit shitty'??

chuckle. i sense a language difference between us

i have some lahti & hpo recordings that i enjoy. i'll try some of these others, too.

dj

"A bit shitty" = I've heard them live with their Chief somewhere early 2000's.

The Tampere Philharmonic is in London next week, at Cadogan Hall (playing an all-Sibelius programme too). Quite a good year for Finnish orchestras in London - with Lahti SO at the Proms a few months ago. You certainly notice a difference in sound from British orchestras - even when Osmo Vanska conducts Sibelius with the London PO (where I work), it's a very different experience from Vanska with the Lahti SO.

Not sure if anyone else on the forum heard it, but the Tampere Philharmonic's performance under John Storgards on Wednesday night at Cadogan Hall in London was utterly brilliant. I go to a lot of orchestral concerts, but this was a singular experience, and devastatingly moving.

In case anyone is interested, Osmo Vanska is visiting London tomorrow to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra (which happens to be my employer). He's not actually conducting Sibelius, but Nielsen (fiddle concerto), Bax and Rachmaninov.

How good to know that Vanska is conducting Bax in London. Still gravely neglected even over here. Bax worshiped Sibelius and dedicated his Fifth Symphony to him.--kullervopete.

Yes, the Cadogan Hall concert was a fine one indeed... I wonder if we met without realizing it I did have a chance to say hi to Harri M, so all in all it was quite a good turn-out from the Forum.

A Mellor wrote:

Not sure if anyone else on the forum heard it, but the Tampere Philharmonic's performance under John Storgards on Wednesday night at Cadogan Hall in London was utterly brilliant.

What was on the programme?

Andrew B wrote:

...so all in all it was quite a good turn-out from the Forum.

Yeah, like half the active membership! We should have had a logo in the program as sponsors.

The programme:

Pohjola's Daughter
Violin Concerto (solo: Jennifer Pike, very fine playing indeed)
Symphony No. 4

Encore: Finlandia.


My sort of concert.....

Andrew, many thanks coming to our concert! I was happy meeting you and that you were present, with you wife and friend, when we performed that particular programm.

Our local newspaper interwieved me concerning the S-motif. Looking for that article i found an other one, written by an unkwown friend of mine. I want to share the pleasure of reading it here in the forum, despite of my slow and and difficult writing in english and old computer, things which limit my activity here.


Click

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for the article.

Harri M, we have all had to endure an old and slow computer and internet connection at some point, I know how frustrating that can be.

But as far as your English is concerned, you write very well, forum members are always happy to read your posts, especially as your perspective is from the inside of a Finnish orchestra, which is a very valuable contribution to the forum!

Thank you Kurki.

Just to add, I wrote a review of the concert for The Filter, a website which is currently focussing on Finnish culture in 'Finland Filtered',

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- but I will paraphrase here.

I thought the orchestral sound was magnificent - particularly the first violins - and that the pace of the symphony was perfect. It was played with the sort of patience and intuition you often don't get with British orchestras - especially when playing the more 'elusive' Sibelius symphonies. Obviously a tour increases rehearsal opportunities, but still a very special performance. The fiddle concerto was well played, and Finlandia as an encore had a sense of menace to it which I haven't sensed before (the opening brass salvos in particular).

Thank you. I forwarded this to the orchestra management.

Their is a widely held belief that Finnish orchestras have a special sound when playing Sibelius, this might be true. But when we consider the great recordings and performances over the years, we are on less firm ground.
Kajanus's early recordings of course are ground-breaking and Finland has produced an extraordinary array of conducting talent.
But consider the great Sibelius performances from foreign orchestra's and conductors. Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony, Karajan and the Berlin Phil. and Colin Davies and the London Symphony to take just three examples. These great Sibelius conductors bring a dimension to Sibs music not always found with homegrown orchestra's and conductors.
When John Barbirolli toured Scandinavia with his Halle orchestra in 1963, he played Sibelius and Mahler to the Finns in Helsinki. Following the concert, the conductor Jussi Jalas remarked 'We Finns ought to be ashamed that it takes a British orchestra and a British conductor to show us how to play Sibelius'.--kullervopete.

While historically there are certainly many fine recordings of Sibelius by foreign orchestras, and there are undoubtedly many more yet to come, I think in recent years, Vanska and Lahti are unsurpassable.

But your point is well taken, sometimes "home" orchestras are too close to the music, more specifically to traditions that were born out of bad performance practice and sometimes stuck. Czech orchestras are surely guilty of this with Dvořák, as slowing down in the worst places are the Czech "traditions" that are revered over here.

This is what I like about Vanska's recordings, that they have the sureness and sheen of Finnish Sibelius, and yet they are clean and fresh, stripped of affect and questionable practice.

I think that playing and understanding well Sib doesn`t ask the nationality, as it is with all other music too. But knowing, for example, the situation when Finlandia was composed, and how it could not be performed with that name, it is perhaps possible to understand that this music has had a special meaning for finns. This might explain the special sound.