Sibelius’ ‘Tempest’ a First-Rate Rarity

In 1992, several rare and wonderful compositions were released on CD that had somehow eluded t& R mavens all these years:

As previously noted here, Alberto Franchetti’s stirring Columbus quadricentennial opera, “Cristoforo Colombo,” was introduced on recordings (on the Koch label) in time for the quincentennial, with Renato Bruson giving a grandly theatrical performance in the title role and an ensemble from the Hungarian Radio reviving the old-time thrills of lusty, all-stops-out choral singing.

Then, there was the first complete recording (and the first of any length to tackle the score as serious drama) of Handel’s penultimate oratorio, “Theodora” (Harmonia Mundi), in a superbly vital reading from Nicholas McGegan and his Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, with Lorraine Hunt’s profoundly moving portrayal of the titular heroine.

Now along comes another major recording premiere: Sibelius’ complete incidental music to “The Tempest,” created for a 1925 production of Shakespeare’s last play, 67 minutes of unremittingly distinguished, imaginative music (BIS 581).

“The Tempest” is among the composer’s last completed works. But unlike the hypnotic, theme-sparse Seventh Symphony and “Tapiola,” its approximate contemporaries, the incidental music is a rich display of lyric invention, cast in 30-odd sections, some merely decorative wisps, others small but fully formed tone poems.

Sibelius’ orchestration is a marvel of luminosity throughout, with a variety of effects for harp, harmonium, solo winds and percussion that indicate yet another new stylistic direction for the composer. But the many years that remained to Sibelius produced only silence.

Some numbers are too fragmentary or simply elusive to be effective in the concert hall. These, logically, were not included in the composer’s once reasonably popular orchestral suites.

For home listening, however, every bit of “The Tempest” makes a valuable contribution to a powerful, coherent whole.

Among the most notable numbers are the opening storm, a positively drenching depiction of the sinking of Prospero’s ship; the “Chorus of the Winds,” with its astonishingly original employment of harp and harmonium); Ariel playing his flute; a raucous canon for Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano; the dark and rich “Dance of the Shapes,” in part a portrait of the malicious Antonio.

The recording is the latest among numerous triumphs over the past two decades for a smallish Swedish label that is able to think big--and presumably to reach its target audience--without courting financial ruin. It doesn’t pursue star performers, but rather the people who understand and respect the repertory in which the label specializes, which is principally music of northern Europe.

And, considering the variety of corporate logos seen on their CDs, it would seem that BIS has a knack for knowing whom to tap for specific projects.

In this instance, subsidy comes from a construction company with projects in the small Finnish city (population 100,000) of Lahti, whose symphony orchestra, under music director Osmo Vanska, is employed to excellent effect in “The Tempest,” as it was two years ago in the much-praised first recording of the original, unpublished version of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto (coupled with the familiar published one) with soloist Leonidas Kavakos.

The Lahti orchestra, a chorus and five vocal soloists (singing in Finnish), all completely attuned to the idiom, perform with skill and dedication. One wonders whether the results would have been nearly as successful in the hands of fatter, less-selfless cats.

Congratulations as well to the BIS technical team for following Sibelius’ directions regarding the placement--to create certain “magical” effects--of solo instruments and for producing balances in keeping with the needs of the score and its relation to the imagined drama.