Sibelius: Kullervo

Sibelius (Artist), Robert Spano (Artist), Hellekant (Artist), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus (Artist), Gunn (Artist), Nathan Gunn (Artist), Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Men's Chorus (Artist), Charlotte Hellekant (Artist), Norman Mackenzie (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 21, 2006)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B000JCETY2
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,148 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Introduction

2. Kullervo's Youth

3. Kullervo and His Sister

4. Kullervo Goes to Battle

5. Kullervo's Death

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Sibelius (1865-1957) wrote Kullervo, his first large-scale orchestral composition, at the age of 25. As this recording's conductor, Robert Spano, says, it bears within it the seeds of all his later symphonies. The text is taken from the Finnish national epic Kalevala, a collection of orally transmitted ancient legends assembled and published by Elias Lönnrot in 1835. Sibelius loved the Kalevala, which inspired several of his symphonic poems. Its uniform eight-syllable lines and ritualistically repeated phrases sounded to him like "pure music," hinting at the "treasures...hidden in our folk songs," and before writing Kullervo he immersed himself in studying their rugged meters and rhythms.

Kullervo's story is dark and violent; while the sections Sibelius composed do not form a cohesive narrative, they do convey the hero's tragedy. Raised by his family's enemies, he supposes himself an orphan but, blessed with magical powers, foils their attempts on his life and escapes. Wandering alone, he discovers his parents and siblings, though one sister is missing. Sent on a sleigh-ride, he overtakes three maidens, who refuse his invitation to join him; however, he abducts and seduces the third, only to learn that she is his lost sister. In despair, she kills herself; Kullervo goes into battle yet survives, but returning home finds his family dead and falls upon his sword.

This turbulent, brooding tale seems eminently suited to Sibelius' somber, often bombastic style, beginning with the long orchestral introduction whose ominous low instruments presage what's to come. Supporting the poem's reiterations with obsessively repeated motives and phrases, the music illustrates and underlines the story's events and emotions: vengeful defiance, boisterous joy and triumph, desperate lamentation. The orchestration is rich and colorful, swooping up and down from whispers to crashes. The performance is admirable; the vocal parts demand an almost constantly high level of dynamics, and just learning the Finnish text is an extraordinary achievement. --Edith Eisler

Product Description

The 80-minute work, performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the men from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, with baritone Nathan Gunn and mezzo-soprano Charlotte Hellekant, was conducted by ASO Music Director Robert Spano and recorded at the Woodruff Arts Center in May.

The all-volunteer Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus learned Finnish in order to perform this piece. Jeff Baxter, assistant director of choruses in Atlanta and a tenor in the ASO chorus, began learning the language from a native speaker about a year ago, in preparation for training the chorus to sing the piece. The Finnish native speaker did not know music, so she intoned the syllables, and then Baxter and Director of Choruses Norman MacKenzie made a phonetic translation. The chorus undertook months of preparation, including drilling on Monday nights on the language alone.

Kullervo is a powerful figure from the Kalevala, the epic Finnish saga composed of 50 poems compiled by Elias Lönnrot, a physician and folklorist who traveled throughout the Finnish-Russian borderlands recording the lyrics, stories, and ballads sung to him by rural people. Born with magical powers, Kullervo was raised as an orphan by his tribe's enemies. As a young man, Kullervo finds his family, who thought he was dead, but learns that his sister is missing. Because he is inept at farm tasks, Kullervo is sent off to pay the family's taxes. On his return he seduces a beautiful maiden who, they both discover, is his long-lost sister. In horror and shame, she kills herself, Kullervo goes to battle, and finally kills himself as well.

Sibelius's music for this dark tale abounds with the rhythms and meters of Finnish folk music, which captures the poetry's brooding sense of hard lives with the ever-present spectre of tragedy. Intent on making this composition - his first large-scale orchestral work - "thoroughly Finnish in spirit," Sibelius traveled to the coastal town of Porvoo to hear Larin Paraske, the famed female folksinger, perform Finnish laments and runes in order to internalize the rugged, archaic style.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The ASO plays at their peak, January 18, 2008

By 

David Carroll - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sibelius: Kullervo (Audio CD)

Full disclaimer: I am one of the 100 male voices on this recording. (The choral portions, while a gratifying accomplishment, only make up about 25% of the work.)

Ignoring my bias for my own choir, I must praise the ASO for their brilliant playing on this album. The transparency and immediacy of their performance showcases how far Spano has brought the orchestra since the start of his tenure.

One possible reason for this: Robert Spano's mother is Finnish. He told us in rehearsal that he doesn't speak the language beyond a few phrases but the sound and character of it are installed deep within in his earliest memories. Clearly this tonal memory translated beyond his dead-on pronunciation corrections to the chorus and went all the way to the core sound of the entire piece. We never forget our mother tongue.

Kullervo isn't a work for everyone (incest-driven double-suicides, anyone?), but if you are a Sibelius fan I think you will enjoy Spano's passion, our famous Atlanta choral precision and Telarc's superb recording quality.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Did not meet my expectations!, April 10, 2009

By 

Daniel Lantz "Lantz" (Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sibelius: Kullervo (Audio CD)

As a true fan of Sibelius' music for some ten years now, "Kullervo" counts as one of my favourite pieces, containing so many haunting themes and beautifully capturing the essence of Finnish folklore, mystique and tragedy. Already owning the pioneering version with Berglund from the 70s as well as Panulas Naxos-recording, I felt I wanted to hear a new, fresh rendition of the work. My choice was between this Telarc release and the BIS recording with Osmo Vänski and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Telarc hadn't disappointed me before, usually delivering powerful and lively performances with top-notch American orchestras, so I went for the Telarc recording with Robert Spano.

What a mistake!

I hate to say it, but after several listenings I'm still deeply disappointed by this rendition. Spano does some odd choices of tempo and dynamics that I don't think does the music any good. There is something very 'anonymous' about the performance, and I never get emotionally involved with the piece, it sort of coasts along in neutral throughout. Some of the most haunting melodies never seem to reach me. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with its Chorus (who reportedly put in a lot of effort studying Finnish before the recording to make the vocal parts come out right) doesn't seem to get things together here. Some passages simply sound awkward, like the woodwinds and the strings, as if the interplay wasn't there at all. The brass, which is commonly one of the standouts of the ASO, doesn't impress me here either. Also, and this could be a recording issue, I think the sound of the ASO is pretty thin. Both the low-budget Panula version and the Berglund one extract more timbre and colours from the orchestra. Strange, considering Telarc takes such pride in working hard with their sound engineering. Occassionally, some important parts of the instrumentation are just inexplicably gone from the soundscape, such as the haunting trombone accompaniment driving the concluding march of the introduction. Did the trombonists go for a coffee break?

No, I cannot say that I would recommend this disc. I will go for the Vänskä version on BIS instead, that sounds very promising according to reviewers. In fact, after hearing this Telarc version, I have gone back many times to the Panula "Kullervo" on Naxos, a low-budget release considered a bit stiff by many, and felt it to be extremely superior and more engaging than this version by Robert Spano.

I thought you could never go wrong with Telarc, taking into account all the great discs they've done in the past, but I guess you have to be a bit careful these days and listen through before you buy! No, if you want a good performance of Kullervo, look further!