# Sibelius, part 2 of 2 (A la carte poll #45)



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Part of a continuing series of polls, which simply asks:
*Which of these works do you like?*

My goal is to build a general picture of the musical interests on TC.

*Please vote for *all* of the pieces you like.*
Options are available for voters who don't know any of the works, and those who know some but don't like any of them. Even "I don't know any" is an interesting and welcome piece of information.

Thank you to everyone who's voted so far! 
You can still vote in all the previous polls. For the full list, see the blog entry linked in my signature below.
More votes are needed in these polls, please:
Variations part 1; 1740-42; and Opus 33 works.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Continuing on from yesterday's poll, with the works in more-or-less chronological order.
The low opus number for Rakastava reflects the choral version, but it's here chronologically speaking in its orchestral guise. Vote for whichever one you like.

The Violin concerto, Symphonies nos.3 & 5, and Tapiola have already appeared in polls (respectively: 34, 31, 21, and 4).


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2015)

When do we get Everyman and Scaramouche and Tempest and Belshazzar's Feast and King Christian and Swanwhite and The Maiden in the Tower?

(And forgive me if you mentioned those on the first list.)


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

I voted _The Oceanides_. One of his finest pieces.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

some guy said:


> When do we get Everyman and Scaramouche and Tempest and Belshazzar's Feast and King Christian and Swanwhite and The Maiden in the Tower?
> 
> (And forgive me if you mentioned those on the first list.)


Possibly never? 

As an information-gathering exercise this certainly has its flaws. I can fit only 13 works per poll (I don't want to ditch those other 2 options) and one poll a day's probably excessive in some people's books; plus I want to have variety among polls. So pretty much by definition I can't be thorough, which means something interesting gets left out (yeah, I know, you don't have to say it - _everything's_ interesting!). I thought about having a bunch of random Sibelius works but decided I'd then probably have to field questions about why such-and-such a work was omitted... oh well...


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2015)

But those are major works, more so than some of the puff ball pieces you did include.

I like puff balls. I voted for them.

But to omit _Scaramouche,_ for instance, in order to include things like _Canzonetta._ Well, that jest makes me wanna break out the ol' dueling pistols, now!

(Plus, if you really feel pressed for space, why not offer _Kuolema_ as one item, dispensing with multiple items from that piece, each with their separate line?

Or, I know this is gonna sound radical, and you know how opposed I am to radical, maybe um no do an....

Nope. Sorry. Too radical!!)


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Compliments, nonetheless, for a good selection of fine Sib works in these polls.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

some guy said:


> But those are major works, more so than some of the puff ball pieces you did include.
> 
> I like puff balls. I voted for them.
> 
> ...


Well, we _could_ keep arguing back and forth on this...

But, ultimately, I'm just some guy (sorry) picking at tiny segments of the world of classical music, asking a few dozen people what they think. If this were major research with funding from outside donors, then sure, we could forensically pick apart what should and should not be included, but it's all a bit trivial, isn't it?
Yeah, I'm curious about how many people would vote for Scaramouche, but I'm also curious about everything else, too. I prioritised one way; I could have prioritised another or another. Life goes on.

I'll mentally add Scaramouche to the "Audience requests" pile, how about that?


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2015)

Nereffid said:


> I'll mentally add Scaramouche to the "Audience requests" pile, how about that?


It's like finding bugs in your soup and getting your next meal free - I'd take it, some guy!


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

some guy said:


> When do we get Everyman and Scaramouche and Tempest and Belshazzar's Feast and King Christian and Swanwhite and The Maiden in the Tower?
> 
> (And forgive me if you mentioned those on the first list.)


The Maiden in the Tower is a magnificent work! I am glad to see that others here would vote for it.


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## Guest (Jul 14, 2015)

Nereffid said:


> But, ultimately, I'm just some guy (sorry) picking at tiny segments of the world of classical music,


 Made me grin.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

All of them again.



> Sibelius: Pelléas et Mélisande, op.46


This was one of the first Sibelius' compositions I got on CD (as filler for Grieg's Peer Gynt suites), and it remains a favourite. It should really be better known than it is.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Thanks to Nereffid for including Luonnotar. The omission of Tapiola seems strange, though. It's in *B minor*, after all.


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## musicrom (Dec 29, 2013)

Art Rock said:


> [... Pelleas et Melisande]
> 
> This was one of the first Sibelius' compositions I got on CD (as filler for Grieg's Peer Gynt suites), and it remains a favourite. It should really be better known than it is.


Agreed. After hearing it in concert last year, it has since been one of my favorites. Just a really nice piece.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I have never really gotten into Sibelius yet  I have a recording of Symphonies 4-7, Swan, Tapiola (Karajan/BPO), that appeals to me, but I have yet to be so bowled over that I need to hear more.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Mahlerian said:


> Thanks to Nereffid for including Luonnotar. The omission of Tapiola seems strange, though. It's in *B minor*, after all.


Tapiola was included way back in poll #4, where it proved to be the most popular composition of 1926!


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Art Rock said:


> Sibelius: Pelléas et Mélisande, op.46
> 
> This was one of the first Sibelius' compositions I got on CD (as filler for Grieg's Peer Gynt suites), and it remains a favourite. It should really be better known than it is.


The first movement of the suite, "At the Castle Gate", should be familiar to viewers of the BBC's (very) long-running astronomy show _The Sky at Night_.

Oh look! There's Pluto!


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

Mahlerian said:


> Thanks to Nereffid for including Luonnotar. The omission of Tapiola seems strange, though. It's in *B minor*, after all.


Yeah, you'd better put Tapiola into the next poll or I just might throw away my 8th symphony and spend the last 25 years of my life in isolation.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Again there were three I did not know or did not remember but I selected all the rest.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

For those who're interested (and for what it's worth), here's how the voting has gone for all 30 Sibelius works covered (the 2 dedicated polls, plus the 4 other works previously mentioned). 

1. Symphony no.5 in E flat, op.82 (85%)
2. Symphony no.2 in D, op.43 (83%)
3. Symphony no.7 in C, op.105 (82%)
4. Symphony no.3 in C, op.52 (79%)
5. Symphony no.4 in A minor, op.63 (79%)
6. Symphony no.6 in D minor, op.104 (76%)
7=. Finlandia, op.26 (68%)
7=. Symphony no.1 in E minor, op.39 (68%)
9=. En Saga, op.9 (60%)
9=. Lemminkäinen Suite, op.22 (60%)
11. Violin concerto in D minor, op.47 (59%)
12. Tapiola (57%)
13. The Oceanides, op.73 (55%)
14. Pohjola's Daughter, op.49 (52%)
15. String quartet in D minor, op.56, 'Voces intimae' (52%)
16. The Bard, op.64 (48%)
17=. Karelia Suite, op.11 (48%)
17=. Valse triste, op.44 no.1 (48%)
19. Kullervo, op.7 (45%)
20=. Night Ride and Sunrise, op.55 (42%)
20=. Luonnatar, op.70 (42%)
22. Lemminkäinen Suite, op.22 - specifically The Swan of Tuonela (33%)
23=. Rakastava, op.14 (30%)
23=. Andante Festivo (30%)
25. Pelléas et Mélisande, op.46 (27%)
26. Canzonetta from Kuolema, op.62a (24%)
27=. Svarta rosor (Black roses), op.36 no.1 (18%)
27=. Säv, säv susa (Sigh, sedges, sigh), op.36 no.4 (18%)
27=. Var det en dröm? (Was it a dream?), op.37 no.4 (18%)
27=. Romance for strings in C, op.42 (18%)


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Actually I just found a poll that KenOC did a couple of years ago asking "What's your favourite Sibelius symphony?"

In that one, no.2 beat no.5 by a single vote, followed (some distance behind) by 3, 4, and 7 on a tie, with 6 and then 1 bringing up the rear. Which is a similar order to my own, obtained using a different method and with (presumably significantly) different voters.

And here's the positions of the symphonies in the TC Recommended Symphonies list:
5 (16); 2 (31); 4 (46); 7 (61); 6 (71); 3 (112); 1 (141)


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