Osmo Vänskä’s Sibelius with SSO totally sumptuous!

Sydney Symphony Orchestra | Osmo Vänskä conducts the music of Sibelius

COLOURFUL MYTHS AND LEGENDS

April 26, 2024, Sydney Opera House

OSMO VÄNSKÄ conductor
HELENA JUNTUNEN soprano

SIBELIUS
Pohjola’s Daughter
Three Songs:
Höstkväll
Hertig Magnus
Våren flyktar hastigt
The Bard
Luonnotar

Lemminkäinen Suite (Four Legends from the Kalevala) Op.22 (1893-95)

At around 50 minutes the Lemminkäinen Suite is a similar length to a Brahms symphony and longer than most of those by Beethoven. Indeed it is longer than all of the 7 symphonies by Sibelius himself.

It is more than just a musical painting of his thoughts of country and myth as he creates a soundworld that distilled much of the new music in Europe in the late 19^th century and imbued it with a sense of place, his place then and there – and it is an immediately recognisable soundworld, one that hints of arctic weather and folkloric inventions.

The four horns were immaculate in their opening chords of the first movement and this was followed by beautiful solos from oboist Shefali Pryor and flautist Joshua Batty. Conductor Osmo Vänskä played the huge dynamic range in this music and the SSO strings revelled in playing exaggerated crescendi and decrescendi. Totally sumptuous! As the movement progressed the music became more impassioned and at its conclusion the audience burst into applause.

The superstar of the SSO in The Swan of Tuonela was clearly the cor anglais soloist Alexandre Oguey. Every note in his plaintive playing charmed the ears. And hot on his heels was Simon Cobcroft the new Associate Principal cello in the SSO. Glorious tone and projection in every phrase he played.

Soprano Helena Juntunen is a most expressive singer and she delved deep into the meaning and character of each of the varied songs by Sibelius. One hardly needed the translations to understand the emotions she was conveying and each song was meticulously performed by soloist and orchestra alike.

Juntunen was powerful, then sweet and, when required, coquettish and all the time her beautiful voice effortlessly filled the Opera House.

Two other purely orchestral works Pohjola’s Daughter and The Bard gave the SSO plenty of opportunities to shine and the double bass was a ripper in Pohjola’s Daughter and in The Bard with its nearly stasis approach to pulse the brass section were warm and comforting like a large woollen coat. The harps and bass clarinet had their moment in the faint sunshine.

This was an unusual concert in many ways but the direction of Osmo Vänskä made it a fascinating one.  He knew what colours he wanted to draw from the orchestra and he did so and we the audience were the beneficiaries.

At the conclusion of the concert my mind wandered to thinking whether a great orchestra in Finland would give an entire concert over to the music of Peter Sculthorpe in, say, 100 years time. Sibelius is a world musical figure and deserves his status. That fame possibly came about because he pursued a language that made him feel at home in his environment. Sculthorpe searched for a music that belonged here and now and all Australian composers have benefitted. Sounding different to the pack can have advantages.