The Sibelius Forum

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:34 am Post subject: Quotes of the Moment

As most of you have noticed, ForumUp centrally has cancelled my HTML editing priviledges at the top of the main page and put ad-banners in that space. The truth is that I simply have not had the time to fulfill my part of the deal with ForumUp which led to the removal of ad-banners from the forum. What I miss most is the ability to post happy little "Quotes of the Moment", little snippets of the best and funniest writing at the Sibelius Forum.

So I am starting this thread, which as of June 9th 2008 will be a running collection of the best of the best at the forum!

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:38 am Post subject:

Tapkaara, who's post in the "Least favourite composers thread" (

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

inspired the idea of collecting the QotM's to begin with, offers us the best summary of the Second Viennese School that I have ever seen:

Tapkaara wrote:

The Second Viennesse School is just a fancy sounding name for composers who did not know how to write a tune. Whenever you see videos of cats "playing" the piano on YouTube, I guarantee you they are playing works by either Schonberg, Werbern or Berg. Cats really understand serialism.

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 3:15 am Post subject:

I have completely forgotten about this topic! I will try to keep the collection going. Here is another one from Tapkaara, which can be found in

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

thread. By the way, the quote is once again in made with reference to Schoenberg...

Tapkaara wrote:

Point being, Sibelius didn't have to write grinding sound effects to be original. He could still write music and be original.

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Sun Nov 23, 2008 3:41 pm Post subject:

kullervopete quoting Andrew B wrote:

'Sibelius's music is the result neither of pure calculation nor of unfetered instinct, but rather of a fusion of the two. Though constructed with infinite care, it conveys an impression of spontaneity which renders it resistant to textbook analysis'.

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 3:52 pm Post subject:

Tapkaara continues his witty rant against Schoenberg...

Tapkaara wrote:

When I want a "cocktail," I turn to Stravinsky, Prokofiev or Shostakovich. But I never drink sewage (Schonberg).

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:16 pm Post subject:

Miranda Lewis, one of the Forum's very first members, makes a triumphant return with this great quote:

Miranda Lewis wrote:

I read a fair amount about Sibelius's life and work when preparing The Seven Symphonies, and I wallowed in an orgy of his music.

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 3:27 pm Post subject:

Ainola finishes off a post about the lack of blatant and overt emotion in Sibelius' music with the following line:

Ainola wrote:

In its place is an emotion that has not occured yet and therefore remains internal, waiting, in a liquid core.

See the full thread

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

.

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 2:13 am Post subject:

World Violist coins a phrase...

World Violist wrote:

I heard it on the Nupen Sibelius DVD and was suitably entranced.

"Suitably entranced", very nice.

The thread is

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

, in "Vocal Music".

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 2:31 am Post subject:

kullervopete sums it up nicely...

kullervopete wrote:

... just as the folklore and epic poems of the Kalevala go back to an ancient past, so Sibelius music seems in a very real sense to always have existed.

Read about it

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

.

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:33 am Post subject:

Tapkaara comes out and reveals his deepest fantasies in

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

thread about "Scaramouche"...

Tapkaara wrote:

Then I was wondering if I could karaoke Luonnotar, but the host didn't have it in his music database...

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 12:59 pm Post subject:

Tapkaara mixes a remedy for critics of Sibelius' keyboard writing in

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

thread:

Tapkaara wrote:

For anyone who has the mental illness of opinion that Sibelius could not write for the keyboard should take one of these discs and call me in the morning...so I can say "I told you so!"

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 5:14 am Post subject:

jeffyoung7 wrote:

AndrewB,sorry if I got confused!! but am I right you played in the Lahti orchestra?

Our newest member jeffyoung7 gets aquainted with the Sibelius Forum's membership... Wink

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:07 pm Post subject:

kullervopete started

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

topic which discusses Sibelius' identity as either a "lone-wolf" or a mainstream European. It spurred some great quotes, which I list below:

Andrew B wrote:

... whilst Sibelius did choose and follow his own path, he didn't consciously strive to deter people from following in his footsteps.

kullervopete wrote:

I would contend that he strove for and achieved a music very much in the European mainstreem, indeed his finest work has a Universal significance. It is not to difficult to trace the lineage from Haydn and Beethoven through Bruckner and Brahms to Sibelius.

I like Tapkaara's quite a bit...

Tapkaara wrote:

He set out to be European, but ended up being a lone wolf. Kind of opposite to Mahler, I think, who set out to be a lone wolf but ends up sounding very European.

And kullervopete's omission of Brahms makes me (and probably Andrew B) feel all warm inside...

kullervopete wrote:

...the three B's--Bach, Beethoven and Bruckner.

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2009 6:21 am Post subject:

Tapkaara sums up Sir Colin Davis' BSO recordings in

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

thread:

Tapkaara wrote:

His LSO Live recordings reveal a man who is more confident of this music, and seems to be having more "fun" with it, I daresay. His BSO recordings are just to "cool" and "reserved" to be convincing, and Sibelius's idiom feels constricted under Davis's "let's be civil" baton.

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:35 pm Post subject:

World Violist answers Tapkaara's question perfectly:

Tapkaara wrote:

What these reviewer mean by "cool," however, is that they lack emotion, or drive, or drama. They suggest that Sibelius wrote 7 symphonies that are excersises in restraint and civility. What, pray tell, are these people hearing?

World Violist wrote:

They're hearing Davis/BSO.

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 4:57 am Post subject:

kullervopete and Andrew B discuss nature and the human experience in

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

thread.

Andrew B wrote:

Nature in Sibelius's major works is rarely viewed in isolation.

kullervopete wrote:

I believe that in a really profound sense Sibelius reveals man himself to be at the very centre of nature.

...

Kurkikohtaus · Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 6:15 am Post subject:

Andrew B does the math in

Only registered users can see links on this forum!
Register or Login on forum!

thread:

Andrew B wrote:

49 kg is very roughly 350 CDs, so you can practice while organizing your Sibelius collection.