In

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thread, Tapkaara coined the phrase "distillation of Sibelius' sound world" in discussing The Dryad, I submit the full post here for reference:

Tapkaara wrote:

Ah yes, The Dryad. What a strange, dark tone poem. Despite its brevity, The Dryad certainly has a lot to say in terms of its weird harmonies, semi-sinister melodies...and those castanets! In a way, it is a very concise distillation of Sibelius's general sound world. It's a work that is much over-looked but should not be. I suppose it is not performed much in concert due to is length, but it should be counted as one of the most original tone poems ever written by any composer.

A fascinating idea... what pieces in your minds qualify for this distinction?

May I put forth, for obvious reasons, THE DRYAD?

I would also nominate Pohjola's Daughter and the 7th Symphony. I was tempted to list Tapiola, but I'm not sure that works well as a total distillation because it is so monothematic. There was more to Sibelius's sound than ostinato.

I'd think Pohjola's Daughter is a very good one too... but I'm wondering if the Seventh symphony doesn't make a very good distillation as well. It has the perfect, organic development, based on motifs one would never think of as particularly friendly for development; those magnificent string chorales, as exhibited so marvelously in the Sixth symphony (my other choice for this distillation thread, by the way); the darkness with the bits of sun shining through and the predominant light with the shadows covering some of it up.

So really, I'd think from the comparatively little I've heard of Sibelius' output (that being pretty much only the symphonies and tone poems) that the Seventh symphony and possibly Pohjola's Daughter and the Sixth symphony have this sort of "distillation of Sibelius' sound world."

By the way, this thread sounds eerily familiar to the "Definitive Sibelius Piece" thread also on this board... just thought to say...

World Violist wrote:

By the way, this thread sounds eerily familiar to the "Definitive Sibelius Piece" thread also on this board... just thought to say...

Good point, however the spirit of that thread is a little different...

Click

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to re-visit it.

This is a difficult one, but after some thought I have gone for Pohjola'a Daughter. This impressive work seems to encapsulate various periods in Sibelius's development.

It contains both the passionate lyricism of his early romantic period and the dark introspection of a masterpiece such as the Fourth Symphony--listen to the very closing pages of the tone poem.

The rich writing for the brass is as powerful as in the Fifth.

But above all, I think that in Pohjola's Daughter Sibelius manages to combine to an extraordinary degree his great gifts for descriptive music with the motivic rigour of his best Symphonic work.--kp