Ollila

Here is the first recording ever of the so-called Press Celebrations Music of 1899. Sibelius subsequently reworked and rescored the music later that same year in what became the first set of the Scenes historiques, Op. 25 and Finlandia, Op. 26, but here we have the first opportunity of hearing Sibelius’s original thoughts, as well as the Prelude, and the two movements that remained in manuscript. They are the second tableau, ‘The Finns are baptised’, and the fifth, ‘The Great Unrest’ or ‘Hostility’, referring to the so-called Great Northern War that followed the Russian capture of Viipuri in 1710 and the subsequent decline of Swedish power.

The Nightwish story offers up a spectacular dramatic arc, and Mape Ollila grabs it with both hands. He has clearly been close and personal with the people he interviewed for the book, and this shows up in the candid statements that find their way onto the page. No stone is left unturned, whether it is about personal chemistry, contractual wrangling, or simple old-fashioned rock stars getting trashed. –Jarkko Jokelainen, Helsingin Sanomat …

Was den deutschen ihr Nibelungenlied, das ist den Finnen die Kalevala. Dieses Nationalepos inspirierte Sibelius zu künstlerischen Höchstleistungen, wie Der Schwan von Tuonela oder Tapiola. Im reich bebilderten Booklet werden zudem die wichtigsten Szenen durch Werke des Nationalkünstlers Aksela Gallen-Kallelas illustriert. Für die Zusammenstellung konnte man aus dem reichhaltigen Fundus hervorragender Sibelius-Aufnahmen des Ondine-Katalogs schöpfen.

The young Swiss cellist Christian Poltéra released three remarkable discs of Swiss modernist music in 2007. First came Othmar Schoeck's concerto and sonata for cello plus four song transcriptions for cello and piano. Then came Arthur Honegger's concerto and sonata for cello plus two sonatines. And last there was this one, Frank Martin's concerto and ballade for cello and 8 Preludes for orchestra.