As I’m beginning the year with a re-reading of the Kalevala, the Finnish mythological epic that has haunted me since childhood, it’s logical for me to begin the year’s musical listening with Sibelius’ largest scale work based on it, the spectacular unified sequence of tone poems about the Kalevala hero Kullervo. I have two recordings of Kullervo, Symphonic Poem for Soprano, Baritone, Chorus and Orchestra, Op.7: Jorma Panula conducting the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra, and Paavo Berglund directing the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra. They’re both fine, but I prefer the Berglund. Eeva-Liisa Saarinen’s soprano in it is superb.
Sibelius was afflicted with an obsessive-compulsive perfectionism. Towards the end of his life, it drove him to destroy almost everything he composed, including an eighth symphony. He discouraged the performance of those early works which he deemed unworthy. For this reason, Kullervo, which had premiered in his youth to much acclaim in the year 1892, did not have a complete performance between 1893 and 1958, and was not commercially recorded until 1971.
Yes, it’s a youthful work, and not very sophisticated. But it was his opus seven, for heaven’s sake. Sibelius was in his mid-twenties. The work is splendid, and displays a precocious mastery of orchestration. The tunes are catchy, and Sibelius has no trouble holding your attention for well over an hour.
Kullervo is the most tragic character in the Kalevala epic. Every decision he makes is a mistake, and the gods wreak their vengeance on him with alacrity. Sibelius captures this atmosphere exactly, and the lyrics taken from the original runos are splendidly evocative whether they are sung by the chorus or the soloists.
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