Sibelius clarinet solo becomes overnight hit
NewsThe solo from the Sibelius first symphony, played on TV by principal clarinet Christoffer Sundqvist of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra on independence day this week, is going straight through the roof.
Yesterday, it drew 10,000 repeat viewers, today twice as many.
Bigger than Finlandia? Watch here.
Esa-Pekka Salonen has written a concerto for Sundqvist.
UPDATE: Sibelius was born on this day, in 1865.
It is certainly no achievement to upstage the most boring and uninspired of all conductors as the one who is conducting.
Are you working for TV? In the days when music mattered, the visuals of a conductor mattered little. What mattered was the music and the sound he helped to shape.
Which conductors look the most energetic and „inspired“ in your opinion? Give us your top 5 list with video clips. (no sound necessary for the videos)
For people listening for cheap thrills,yes…..For serious musicians,and music connaisseurs,no…..Played thr first time for him in 1985….,ca.15 times till 2019.Always finding something fresh,..details “inspired”geniuses playing for the gallery overlook , shaken so much by their own emotions..One of the very best!!!
Paljon onnea Janne!
just remember to mention that the conductor is Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
Thanks to the nitwit who gives me a thumbs-down for pointing out a simple detail…
It wasn’t me with the thumbs down, but why is it important to point out the conductor in this? He is quite irrelevant in this clip about this clarinet solo. You might as well point out the architect of the hall, or the man who cut the trees for the wooden floor, or the maker of the clarinet. Enough with the narcissistic conductor-cult. 🙂
Tamino: it’s not that, it’s that NL mentions EP Salonen for no reason. Some people here might confuse both conductors
Norman said Salonen wrote a concerto for Sundqvist, not that he was conducting in the video. You are the one who is confused.
Glad he uses (some) vibrato. English clarinetists used vibrato. Who decided that vibrato is verboten for classical clarinetists? Don’t give me any of those specious physics arguments like the presence of certain overtones makes vibrato bad for clarinets. Nonsense. Classical music is literally the only genre where clarinetists refuse to use vibrato. The prejudice is so great that even saxophonists are practically vibrato-less in classical music. Silly silly tradition, and it severely limits the expressiveness of clarinet playing. My 2 cents.
As a clarinetist, I must agree with you. While I am American trained, I have studied in London and came to love that expressive style of playing that is vocal as well.
The American school ignored vibrato as being verboten. But when used effectively as does this wonderful clarinetist, it is a means of expression as in a voice.
Bravo to this musicians AND the conductor for leaving the fellow alone to make his artistic statement.
And he is playing a German made clarinet!
How do you know?
Schwenk & Seggelke 1000 series. Made in Bamberg
No. It’s a normal Boehm system clarinet, but the octave/register key has an extension to make it look like a German system.
The music of Sibelius has many hits impossible to not be seduce very quickly by the start of Karelia or En Saga. The stupidity of many orchestras in West and central Europe is to don’t play enough Sibelius. But it starts to change thanks to Rouvali and Mäkelä.
The Florida Orchestra will be doing Sibelius 5 and the Swan of Tuonela in February.
Boy, you certainly is a millenial…!
Not at all there s no age for saying that Sibelius was a giant.
You didn‘t say that. You said those who don‘t play enough Sibelius are stupid.
In a certain way… Yes! When you have 4 years of concerts and when you don’t see any Sibelius symphony… we can say that ahahaha….
Actually, a long time ago Concertgebouw9, Eugene Ormandy championed Sibelius. He made many wonderful recordings and went to Finland to meet the composer. They are still wonderful recordings.
Yes but the Concertgebouw never did a complete cycle of all the symphonies. There’s the 2th symphony by Szell a record I have in cd and lp, the one with e bird on the cover.
And Serge Koussevitzky championed Sibelius in Boston even before Ormandy with iconic recordings of the 2nd (twice), 5th, and 7th.
They do #1, 2, and 5 pretty regularly, but could do the others more. And they could do Kullervo a lot more.
Through at least the 1940s, Sibelius was quite popular in the U.S. Only when the Schönberg/Stravinsky modernism came to dominate was Sibelius then treated as old-fashioned and denigrated.
Wow, fantastic colours and dynamics! Impressive and touching!
What about the xylophone solo at the beginning of Nielsen’s Sixth Symphony? It’s loaded with emotional punch and there are so many different ways to play it – only a master percussionist player can bring it off successfully – so many performances have been ruined by a lack of real commitment. And could we have a recording of just the tymp solo that begins Beethoven’s Violin Concerto – it is such a formidable introduction to a masterpiece. Finally, how about the whip at the beginning of Ravel’s G major Piano Concerto? So easily dispatched without true devotion.
There is no xylophone solo at the beginning of Nielsen‘s Sixth.
In common with beginning of the big tune in Finlandia, the opening tune of Tapiola, the Scherzo from the 2nd Symphony, and probably some other melodies by Sibelius the shape of the first 5 notes of this solo describes the letter S lying on its back. I read somewhere that this is a signature. True?
How is it an update to add that today is the anniversary of Sibelius’ birth? Breaking news? Or just an indicator of the quality of research on SD?
It is mournful but very beautiful. Sibelius was a superb composer; too bad he never, to my knowledge, wrote a clarinet concerto.
He did only the violin concerto and it was an order.
If he did write one he likely burned it
He teaches in Sibelius Academy. Very high level class.
Great class and a great school!
He certainly moves around a lot when he plays. The girl next to him looks annoyed at all the gesticulating.
Hahaha.. actually i was feeling very serene, but i can see how it might look different 🙂 Not at all annoyed. On the contrary, i love playing with Christoffer Sundquist – always inspired and in the moment.
What trash….you think she looks annoyed…???
No honey, no.
Very well presented. Every quote was awesome and thanks for sharing the content. Keep sharing and keep motivating others.