I noticed the other day that Hilary Hahns recording of the Schoenberg Violin Concerto has debuted at number one in the Billboard classical charts. It seems that this is the first ever Schoenberg recording ever to appear on the chart.

It seems however that it did so on the back of Sibelius's D minor Concerto!--an interesting pairing.

M.s Hahn believes that the Schoenberg and Sibelius Concertos are well paired. She says 'I wanted to pair the Schoenberg with something that would reflect its dark lyrical side, as well as its playfulness, from an unexpected angle. The Sibelius Concerto seemed to me the perfect foil'. Comments invited.--kp

Schoenberg and Sibelius Violin Concertos, Hilary Hahn, Swedish Radio S. O. Cond. Esa-Pekka Salonen. Dg 477 7346

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Ha, the first time Schonberg ever made it to the top of that charts...how could that possibly be that he was never up there before???

Perhaps it's actually the Sibelius recording that folks have taken to!

I do think this is an unusual pairing, but perhaps therein lies the genius. As musical contemporaries, more or less, Sibelius was the symbol of the past, Schonberg of the future. To have two incredibly different concerti on the same disc, each springing from a completely different school of thought...well...I guess the listener is treated to true aural yin and yang.

I have read good reviews of this disc...maybe I should pick it up one day.

Tapkaara wrote:

I do think this is an unusual pairing, but perhaps therein lies the genius. As musical contemporaries, more or less, Sibelius was the symbol of the past, Schonberg of the future. To have two incredibly different concerti on the same disc, each springing from a completely different school of thought...well...I guess the listener is treated to true aural yin and yang.

At one time Sibelius was seen in some quarters as a symbol of the past and indeed Schoenberg of the future. But fast-forward fifty years and the climate of opinion is no longer in such a polarized position. Atonality has proved to have been something of a cul-de-sac and it is composers such as Sibelius who point the way forward.

I recall many years ago hearing a music quiz on BBC radio. We heard an excerpt from a piece of music, but the main theme had been removed leaving a rather strange background. Could we name the piece of music with its mysterious modern sound. I'm pleased to say that I guessed it correctly, it was part of the first movement of the Sibelius Concerto. But I think that many people would have been stumped.

Composer Morton Feldman once remarked 'Those composers whom you think might be radical are really conservative and those that are conservative might really be radical'.

I too might just seek out the Hilary Hahn disc.--kp

It seems that most Sibelius discs are paired with other Finnish/Nordic composers (Tubin, Kajanus, etc.), unless the discs are focused on the artist(s). For example, another weird pairing is the "Voces Intimae" quartet with the Verdi quartet.

kullervopete wrote:

Tapkaara wrote: I do think this is an unusual pairing, but perhaps therein lies the genius. As musical contemporaries, more or less, Sibelius was the symbol of the past, Schonberg of the future. To have two incredibly different concerti on the same disc, each springing from a completely different school of thought...well...I guess the listener is treated to true aural yin and yang. At one time Sibelius was seen in some quarters as a symbol of the past and indeed Schoenberg of the future. But fast-forward fifty years and the climate of opinion is no longer in such a polarized position. Atonality has proved to have been something of a cul-de-sac and it is composers such as Sibelius who point the way forward. I recall many years ago hearing a music quiz on BBC radio. We heard an excerpt from a piece of music, but the main theme had been removed leaving a rather strange background. Could we name the piece of music with its mysterious modern sound. I'm pleased to say that I guessed it correctly, it was part of the first movement of the Sibelius Concerto. But I think that many people would have been stumped. Composer Morton Feldman once remarked 'Those composers whom you think might be radical are really conservative and those that are conservative might really be radical'. I too might just seek out the Hilary Hahn disc.--kp

All excellent points, Pete.

I actually agree that the Schonbergian serialist school is a cul-de-sac, as you so aptly put it. It had its heyday but it inevitably fizzled. There are still composers around who stick to it, but does any of it sound fresh, new and original? I say no. It's a sound stuck firmly in the mid 20th century. Everything that could ever be done with it had already been done as of the 1960s, probably, and I feel that composers who continue to write music in this style believe they are still a member of the avant-garde, when, in fact, they are dinosaurs.

But listen to Sibelius. Once thought of a s dinosaur himself, his music DOES sound modern and purely original, even today. That Sibelius sound is one of the most unique in all of music and will endure into the future because it is not beholden to any particular time period. Sibelius's music exists outside of trends and time periods. Schonberg's, for example, does not.

Tapkaara makes some excellent points and I can agree with all of it. World Violist mentioned Sibelius's 'Voces intimae' Quartet being paired with Verdi's string quartet in E minor [1873] and I think I have seen the recording he refers to. Actually I think that this is a succinct choice. This is operatic master Verdi's only surviving chamber work. Sibelius of course wrote a large amount of chamber music in his youth, but his String quartet in D minor opus 56 [1909] was his only mature work in that genre if we discount the Andante festivo opus JS 34a [1922] So I think an interesting pairing.--kp

Regarding dinosaurs, the late Erkki Salmenhaara wrote in his Sibelius biography in 1984 about Sibelius and Shostakovich: ‘For each of them, musical significance was only achievable within the realm of tonal thought. Time will tell whether they were the last great masters of tonal music.’
It's a highly regarded book in some quarters - not available in English, though, and written before about 20 per cent of JS's output came to light.