Spring Song (Sibelius)

Spring Song (in Swedish: Vårsång; in Finnish: Kevätlaulu), Op. 16, is a single-movement tone poem for orchestra written in 1894 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.

Spring Song
Tone poem by Jean Sibelius
The young composer (c. 1895)
Native nameVårsång
Opus16
Composed1894, rev. 1895
PublisherBreitkopf & Härtel (1903)
DurationApprox. 8 mins.
Premiere
Date21 June 1894 (1894-06-21)
LocationVaasa, Grand Duchy of Finland
ConductorJean Sibelius

History

The piece was initially composed as Improvisation for Orchestra, in the key of D major. It premiered on 21 July 1894 at an outdoor festival in Vaasa, organized by the Society for Popular Education (Kansanvalistusseura). Short, lyrical, and delicately scored, Sibelius's piece was ill-suited for the open-air concert, and the audience received it less enthusiastically than another work on the program: Korsholm, by Sibelius's brother-in-law and friend Armas Järnefelt. Shortly therefore, Sibelius withdrew Improvisation for revision. In 1895, he recast it in F major and retitled the work Spring Song (Vårsång), appending the subtitle "The Sadness of Spring" to that (unpublished) version.[1] This version of the tone poem premiered on 13 April 1895 in Helsinki.

Structure

The work is scored for 2 flutes (both doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B♭), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets (in F), 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, glocken, violins, violas, cellos and double basses.[2] Spring Song takes about 8 minutes to play.

\relative c' \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } { \key f \major \time 3/4 \tempo "" r4^\markup \italic cantabile c\mp ( d) c4.\( bes8( d bes) c4\) f--( e-- f) c2 d4-- \( e8\> ( d e4\! d4.) \) \< c8( \> \( e c\! ) d2.\) \< d2.*5/6 s8\! }

The tempo marking is: Tempo moderato e sostenuto. The piece contains an optimism that is relatively rare among Sibelius' works. It is known for its prominent use of bells at the end of the song.[3]

Discography

The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of Spring Song:

No. Conductor Orchestra Rec.[lower-alpha 1] Time Recording venue Label Ref.
1 Paavo Berglund Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra 1973 8:21 Southampton Guildhall EMI Classics
[lower-alpha 2]
2 Sir Charles Groves Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra 1975 6:56 Liverpool Philharmonic Hall EMI Classics
[lower-alpha 3]
3 Sir Alexander Gibson Royal Scottish National Orchestra 1977 7:10 Glasgow City Halls Chandos
[lower-alpha 4]
4 Neeme Järvi (1) Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (1) 1986 8:17 Gothenburg Concert Hall BIS
[lower-alpha 5]
5 Vassily Sinaisky Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra 1991 8:19 Mosfilm Studios Brilliant Classics
[lower-alpha 6]
6 Neeme Järvi (2) Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (2) 1994 7:46 Gothenburg Concert Hall Deutsche Grammophon
[lower-alpha 7]
7 Osmo Vänskä (1) Lahti Symphony Orchestra (1) 1999 8:14 Ristinkirkko BIS
[lower-alpha 8]
8 Shuntaro Sato Kuopio Symphony Orchestra 2002 8:32 Kuopio Music Centre Finlandia
[lower-alpha 9]
9 Osmo Vänskä (2) Lahti Symphony Orchestra (2) 2007 7:34 Sibelius Hall BIS
[lower-alpha 10]
10 Leif Segerstam Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra 2007 8:56 Finlandia Hall Ondine
[lower-alpha 11]
11 Edward Gardner Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra 2018 7:45 Grieg Hall Chandos
[lower-alpha 12]
12 Sakari Oramo BBC Symphony Orchestra 2018 9:03 Watford Colosseum Chandos
[lower-alpha 13]

Notes and references
Notes
  1. Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
  2. P. Berglund–EMI Classics (5 69773 2) 1997
  3. C. Groves–EMI Classics (5 85532 2) 2003
  4. A. Gibson–Chandos (CHAN 8395/6) 1985
  5. N. Järvi–BIS (CD–384) 1988
  6. V. Sinaisky–Brilliant Classics (BC9212) 2010
  7. Neeme. Järvi–DG (00028947755227) yyyy
  8. O. Vänskä–BIS (CD–1125) 2000
  9. S. Sato–Finlandia (0927–49598–2) 2003
  10. O. Vänskä–BIS (SACD–1645) 2009
  11. L. Segerstam–Ondine (ODE 1112–2) 2007
  12. E. Gardner–Chandos (CHSA 5217) 2021
  13. S. Oramo–Chandos (CHAN 20136) 2019

References
  1. Erik Tawaststjerna (19 April 2012). Sibelius Volume I: 1865-1905. Faber & Faber. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-571-28717-8.
  2. Score, Sibelius: Vårsång (Frühlingslied), Breitkopf und Härtel, Leipzig, 1903
  3. Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. Yale University Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780300111590.
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