# Kullervo by Jean Sibelius



## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

I am pleased to see a marked uptick in the amount of Sibelius-themed conversation n the form these days. Let's keep the momentum swinging in the right direction by talking about the piece that put Sibelius on the map as a national figure in Finland: Kullervo.

Whether you consider Kullervo his true first symphony, or you think of it as a tone poem, you can't deny that it an audacious, epic work that either endears or confounds the listener.

Even I have to admit I didn't warm up to Kullervo right away. It seemed a sprawling work of latent genius, but it was just a little too strange...too big for me to get it the first time. It was Sibelius, sure, but too different from the Sibelius I knew in the symphonies or even in the better known tone poems. By about the third or fourth time I heard it, though, I had that epiphany moment, complete with light bulb above my head. I learned to accet it on its own terms and that's when I came to appreciate it as one of my FAVORITE Sibelius works.

What are your thoughts on this piece?


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

I am not familiar with it, although I am somewhat interested by the supposed influence of Bruckner on this score in particular. Which recording/recordings would you recommend?


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## Tapkaara (Apr 18, 2006)

Mahlerian said:


> I am not familiar with it, although I am somewhat interested by the supposed influence of Bruckner on this score in particular. Which recording/recordings would you recommend?


Interestingly, there used to be only a handful of recordings and, withing the past decade or so, it seems they were popping up left and right for a while.

I would recommend the original recording, actually, made by Paavo Berglund and the Bournmouth Symphony. This was the first commercial recording of the work and you can hear the sense of excitment in the musicians to be playing it. I can also recommend Paavo Jarvi with the Royal Stockholm or Colin Davis and the London Symphony on the LSO Live label.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

I'm slightly biased t'wards *Neeme Järvi* on *Bis*! Mostly because I've heard him conduct Sibelius numerous times when I lived in Gothenburg and I believe that he had the right feel and Sibelian touch!

All of the above are fine as well!

/ptr


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## Guest (Mar 12, 2013)

Berglund, hands down.

(And, if you're sensible, you'll get Davis and Järvi as well, natch.)


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

I still haven't completely warmed up to it, but like yourself, Tapkaara, I expect to learn to love it at some point! I do love that heroic introduction movement though! It reminds me of the overture to "Rienzi", but it's even better.


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## Tero (Jun 2, 2012)

http://www.talkclassical.com/24333-kullervo-jean-sibelius.html

As you say, it's a large piece, I almost never play the whole thing.
The first parts are a bit rambling for Sibelius. I got the LPs by Berglund from my grandmother when it was released. I had never related to opera in any way, but I was immediately taken with the third movement. That is pretty much all I played until I sold the LPs in 1982 when I had to move out of state. I did not get back to it until 3 years ago. Then I started playing the other movements as if each was a tone poem. The second movement has become a favorite. The 4th and 5th I have not made very much of. They start off great but to my mind the story could be wrapped up in one movement.

I was never all that interested in Kullervo when we had to read it in
school. The highlight of the Kalevala was the conflict of the two
tribes, Väinölä and Pohjola, and the wars and adventures seemed almost
like Viking stories.


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## Radames (Feb 27, 2013)

They did it in concert at Bard College last summer. Not his best work but it's well worth hearing.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I like the work in general especially as it's based on the rich tapestry of Finnish folklore but I think it's too long and spreads its ideas a little too thinly. Sibelius was young and I think his ambition slightly outstripped the results. No bad thing, I suppose - this was probably an invaluable stepping stone for him. I think the same about Tchaikovsky's Snow Maiden and Mahler's Das klagende Lied - other early orchestral/vocal works which are beautiful in places but I can't help thinking 'God, this does drone on a bit...'.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

The Sibelius Edition on BIS has multiple versions. Vol. 3 (Voice & Orchestra) has Kullervo, Op. 7, for soloists, male-voice choir and orchestra, 5 movements running 80.34, plus a separate item called Kullervon valitus (Kullervos Lament) from Op. 7 for voice and orchestra, running 2.17. Vol. 11 (Choral Music) has Kullervo, Op. 7, for soloists, male voice and piano, noted as "world premiere recording" and with different running times than the equivalent movements in the version in vol. 3. And vol. 13 (Miscellaneous Works) has Kullervo: sketch for slow movement (second movement), Op. 7, from a letter to Aino Jarnefelt, running 1.10 (on piano).

That seems like a lot of Kullervo.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I wonder why the rest of the western world has all but ignored this epic of The Kalevala. I would have expected it to find its way into our modern fantasy literature by now. Maybe it has, and I am just oblivious to it. I have not heard this work of Sibelius, but I have heard his other tone poems based on The Kalevala, and also that of Uuno Klami which is quite stirring.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

Kalevala isn't being ignored, Tolkien copied wholesale parts of it to his works and so the whole western world has been introduced to it!


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