Jean Sibelius: Kullervo

Jean (Johan) Sibelius (1865-1957) was born in Finland from a family, whose language and culture were, however, Swedish, while his country was an autonomous part of the Russian empire, and he preferred the French version of his birth name.  Yet, his exposure to Finnish literature including epic Kalevala led him to be acclaimed as a nationalist composer, known for such works as Finlandia, the Karelia, and his first major success Kullervo, a symphonic tone-poem for orchestra, vocal soloists and choir, based on an episode from the Kalevala.  

Between the end of the 19th century and the mid-1920s, Sibelius wrote his Finlandia, a symphonic poem called Tapiola, music for Shakespeare's The Tempest, and a violin concerto, but most of his energies went toward seven symphonies and these, along with The Tempest suite and Kullervo, were collated into one of the hard-to-find "White Box" sets issued by the Naxos label.

Kullervo is a remarkable work, heavily influenced by the Third Symphony of another favorite Anton Brückner and by Richard Wagner's massive mythological works.  Premiering in Helsinki in April 1892, the piece was greeted rapturously, with one reviewer gusing "he brings the most beautiful pearls of our national epic before our eyes and caresses our ears with Finnish strains that we immediately identify as our own, even though we have never heard them before."  As Smetana and Dvorak had done with Czech nationalist works, Sibelius's Kullervo is a testament to the traditions and character of the Finnish people and is grand, majestic, emotive and powerful, but he did not allow performances after a few years because he thought it would be seen by those outside the country as too Finnish.  Not until after this death, in 1958, was it performed publicly again.

In fact, after World War I, the composer's output slowed considerably and he even destroyed his eighth symphony, finished in 1929.  For almost three decades prior to his passing, he produced no music and, while still admired in England and the U.S., he was largely left out of the repertoire of orchestras in continental Europe.  Yet, the Naxos set is full of great symphonic music, including the striking Kullervo.