This interesting disc contains more than a few Sibelius rarities well worth discovering, but let’s start with The Oceanides (a.k.a. Rondo of the Waves, in an early version that gives the project its title). Osmo Vänskä conducts the most atmospheric, finely detailed, texturally interesting version available, and the only thing wrong with it is that he puzzlingly mis-times the final climax by just a hair. After the violins finish their ascending chromatic shriek, the brass fail to build sufficient energy, so the huge final swell sounds too tame and also a bit rushed. You might not find this fact terribly significant, but in a work in which everything builds to that one single moment, it does matter–however marvelous the incidental detail Vänskä uncovers along the way. Berglund (EMI), Segerstam (Ondine), Gibson (Chandos), and Beecham (EMI) all resolve this huge Sibelian cadence more effectively over a broad range of basic tempos (8-plus to 11-plus minutes; Vänskä stands about average at 10 minutes).
It turns out, however, that Oceanides began life as the third and final movement of an orchestral suite, the latter two sections of which survive and are recorded here. This extremely embryonic essay later became the “Yale Version” (so named because the manuscript resides at Yale University in New Haven), in which most of the thematic material of the definitive version is present and fairly well developed, though within a shorter, much more dramatically eruptive framework. Taken on its own, this is very good Sibelius and worth a hearing now and then, even if the composer’s ultimate thoughts prove the rightness of his decision to revise the work prior to its Norfolk, Connecticut world premiere. What we can clearly hear, and what makes listening to these progressively more refined versions so interesting, is the way Sibelius derives his thematic material from the patterns and intervals of those famous, chugging accompaniments in strings and winds. With each revision the principal ideas gain greater shapeliness and independence, even as their origins in the musical superstructure assure the symphonic unity of the final product.
The other two gems in this collection consist of the original long version of the Cassazione, a bigger and more robust piece than the revised published version, and the drearily-named Musik zu einer Scène, which delightfully turns out to be nothing less than the Dance Intermezzo Op. 45 No. 2, played twice, more roughly orchestrated, and lacking a satisfying ending. Actually, this long version works extremely well, and if Sibelius had only found a way to conclude the piece in a more effective manner this well might be the preferred version. As it stands, once again we can see that Sibelius knew what he was doing.
The only other large work is a longer version of the early Spring Song (1895) that includes some extra, wholly forgettable introductory and concluding material. All of the remaining items are variously cute, charming, vigorous, and equally negligible (well almost: Cortège offers an interesting bit of the composer’s style ca. 1905). Vänskä’s performances, the playing, and the recording all do the music proud, and only that unsatisfactory climax to the definitive Oceanides prevents this disc from earning the highest rating. As it stands, dedicated Sibelians will find it irresistible anyway. I know I did. [5/16/2003]
