Sibelius and Wagner
I’m getting ready to conduct Sibelius 1 for the first time, in Mexico of all places!
What’s remarkable about this symphony is how he moves beyond the 19th Century nature pieces. E minor is (the “key of the symphony”) is always lurking in the background, and rarely manifests itself directly. So as we admire the birds and the trees (G Major, Eb Major, etc), there is always a subliminal reminder of the lifeless things underneath — the rock, the dirt, the end. That tension is also in the form of the symphony, of course. His organic style begins to surface in the very first bars, and as it grows he destroys the “symphonic” form as we know it.
I was able to catch opening night of Tannhäuser. Musically wonderful (Runnicles is the man), great singing. I don’t envy the director who has to tackle this piece, it can’t be easy to deal with this story. Clearly he wasn’t listening to the music with the most sensitive ears. The ridiculous dry-humping which opened the opera was more than distracting, and looked pathetic on top of Wagner’s music. Is it that hard to be sexy?