Sibelius: Choral Music Bits 'n Bobs

 

Song of the Earth
Onward Ye Peoples
Two Chorales

The titular Song of the Earth runs akin to the similarly titled Hymn to the Earth, both from Sibelius. Unless there is inherent storytelling involved in these single-movement choral/orchestral tone poems by Sibelius, I am just not sure these stand up well as compositions from the Finnish composer. Song of the Earth is such a creature, although it has some perky parts which come and go as well.

I had heard the Processional in its instrumental form, here essentially the same but with voices as Onward Ye Peoples. The Two Chorales are more interesting, despite being choral exercises. If some one told me these were from Bach or Handel, I would be none the wiser. Most unexpected!

Certainly, no one could lambast the Dominante Choir here, nor the Lahti Symphony Orchestra with Osmo Vänskä for any of these performances.

Impromptu

Impromptu seems an unusual title for a choral work, yet here we are. I can't say any one aspect particularly stood out to me from this music, so I can understand why it is not programmed often, if at all. Yet, at seven minutes, it is not long, and there are some fun modal harmonies from Sibelius.

Set for female choir and orchestra, I enjoyed the singing of the Finnish National Opera Chorus here. The rest of this program copies another I recently heard from Vänskä, minus this Impromptu, so I think listeners could go into this recording with confidence that it would be a fine performance, at least if one were interested in this recording.

Siltavahti


A short male choir piece which was left off of their other single release on Finlandia Records when transferred to CD. Like those others, this is robust singing.

Song of the Earth, op. 93
Onward Ye Peoples, op. 113 no. 6
Two Chorales
  Dominante Choir
  Lahti Symphony Orchestra
  Osmo Vänskä, conductor
  BIS, 2005


Impromptu, op. 19
  Finnish National Opera Chorus
  Finnish National Opera Orchestra
  Eri Klas, conductor
  Ondine, 1990


Siltavahti, JS 170b
  Helsinki University Choir
  Matti Hyökki, conductor
  Finlandia Records, 2003

Find more Sibelius recordings HERE!