January 8, 2016

  • Rare Sibelius--Yes, Still More From Turku!

     Sibelius: Scaramouche, Op. 71
    Turku Philharmonic Orchestra/Leif Segerstam
    Naxos 8.573511
    Total Time:  71:01
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Through the latter part of 2015, Naxos released a fascinating series of what could best be identified as Sibelian marginalia, a variety of incidental and lesser suites and works from a composer more known for his contribution to the symphony.  Conductor Leif Segerstam’s survey continues with this release of the composer’s only large-scale dramatic score next to his one opera, The Maiden in the Tower (1896).   Even more fascinating to music historians is the date of its composition, 1913—a rather infamous one for ballet as Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps would premiere in Paris.  The release of this score is another reminder at the great diversity of the first two decades of the 20th Century that we often want to gloss over.  But this same year find’s Debussy working on his second book of preludes, Rachmaninoff completing his second piano sonata, unusual piano miniatures by Satie, Vaughan-Williams second symphony as well as Richard Strauss’ Ein Alpensinfonie, and even Webern’s Six Bagatelles.  One could not hope to find much more diversity, not to mention a number of pieces that continue to be mainstays of their respective repertoires.  For Sibelius, this is a work that precedes the early stages of work on what would become the fifth symphony.

    Scaramouche was commissioned by the Danish publisher Wilhelm Hansen for a pantomime by Poul Knudsen in 1912.  Upon receiving the details of the story, Sibelius was a bit surprised that dialogue would be included as well as a number of similarities to an earlier work by the Viennese dramatist/novelist Arthur Schnitzler which had featured music by Dohnanyi (The Veil of Pierrette).   He became quite frustrated with having accepted the project but it was too late to back out of his contract.  Mostly this was due to his thinking he would be writing essentially an hour-long music-only work.  He managed to finish the piece by the end of 1913 but no performance date had been set and the work sort of got forgotten.  In 1922, the Royal Theater of Copenhagen mounted a production which garnered notice mostly for Sibelius’ music as the pantomime itself was not as compelling.

    Set in two acts, the first begins with a gentle minuet and moves through some rather fascinating music with intriguing harmonic punches and a melody often handed to flutes.  This gives way eventually to a little bolero to add Spanish flair.  All of this will be shattered by the appearance of the title character, a dwarf with evil designs on the female character, Blondelaine.  He plays a solo line, given over to viola, that gradually enters into a more intense sequence before a waltz idea returns to help move us into the final moments of the act as Scaramouche casts an ever increasing spell over Blondelaine who eventually is overcome and eventually runs off as the guests try to find her.  Leilon, the host of this ball, becomes increasingly worried as we enter Act 2.  The music here will eventually become a bit more macabre as Blondelaine must find a way to escape the spell of Scaramouche which reaches its most nightmarish moment in Scene 8.  The music often has an almost filmic feel here.  But it is its more darker dramatic moments that we catch a glimpse of some of the stylistic shifts that are to come.

    Scaramouche never quite captures the fin de siècle decline of Viennese debauchery, it certainly has some fascinating musical moments, especially for the more dissonant sections.  It is still very firmly cast in the Romantic tradition with modernist harmonic ideas helping to achieve some of the more macabre moments of the score.  What is often so fascinating here is that there are some really wonderful waltz-like and other dance moments coupled with interesting dramatic writing.  That the work may feel a bit uneven is perhaps no surprise, but it still makes for often delightful listening with tinges of French ballet influence perhaps.  The performance here works very well to achieve the right sense of drama and does a fine job of making a case for this work as have other releases in this wonderful Sibelius series.  It does not feel like a mere runthrough but a seriously committed performance.  If you needed to have but one release from the series, this may very well be the best choice of the lot, but they are all quite hard to resist!