Pranav Ranjit | Jón Leifs - Saga Symphony/Söguhetjur (Score Video) @towardthesea_ | Uploaded August 2022 | Updated October 2024, 4 hours ago.
0:00 I. Skarphédinn (from Njáls Saga)
16:41 II. Gudrún Ósvifrsdóttir (from Laxdaela Saga)
28:00 Björn ad baki Kára (Scherzo) (from Njáls Saga)
33:25 Glámr og Grettir (Intermezzo) (from Grettis Saga)
41:51 Tormódr Kolbrúnarskáld (from Fóstbraedra Saga and Heimskringla)
This video is intended only for educational use; please email me at pranav.sivakumar@berkeley.edu regarding any copyright issues.
Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä
As with many of Leifs' works, don't turn up the volume too much!
Jón Leifs (1899-1968) was an Icelandic composer, probably the most notable from his country in the 20th century. For more about Leifs, see the description in my score video of his "Reminiscence du Nord" for string orchestra: youtube.com/watch?v=XVdalbh6CWM
While he is most famous for his shorter orchestral works, the "Saga Symphony" of 1941-42 is perhaps the culmination of Leifs' musical style. Portraying five characters from the Norse sagas, the symphony is harsh, fragmented and uncompromising, with the composer's penchant for unusual instrumentation showing in the form of lurs (medieval Scandinavian natural horns), an ocarina, and a wide variety of percussion: multiple hammers, pitched anvils, small high-pitched and large low-pitched stones, a whip, shields of wood, leather and iron...the symphony is undoubtedly a tour de force and one of the most distinct symphonic works of the 20th century.
0:00 I. Skarphédinn (from Njáls Saga)
16:41 II. Gudrún Ósvifrsdóttir (from Laxdaela Saga)
28:00 Björn ad baki Kára (Scherzo) (from Njáls Saga)
33:25 Glámr og Grettir (Intermezzo) (from Grettis Saga)
41:51 Tormódr Kolbrúnarskáld (from Fóstbraedra Saga and Heimskringla)
This video is intended only for educational use; please email me at pranav.sivakumar@berkeley.edu regarding any copyright issues.
Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Osmo Vänskä
As with many of Leifs' works, don't turn up the volume too much!
Jón Leifs (1899-1968) was an Icelandic composer, probably the most notable from his country in the 20th century. For more about Leifs, see the description in my score video of his "Reminiscence du Nord" for string orchestra: youtube.com/watch?v=XVdalbh6CWM
While he is most famous for his shorter orchestral works, the "Saga Symphony" of 1941-42 is perhaps the culmination of Leifs' musical style. Portraying five characters from the Norse sagas, the symphony is harsh, fragmented and uncompromising, with the composer's penchant for unusual instrumentation showing in the form of lurs (medieval Scandinavian natural horns), an ocarina, and a wide variety of percussion: multiple hammers, pitched anvils, small high-pitched and large low-pitched stones, a whip, shields of wood, leather and iron...the symphony is undoubtedly a tour de force and one of the most distinct symphonic works of the 20th century.
![Eduard Tubin - Symphony No. 11 [unfinished] (Score Video)](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/l-vYcU8buKo/hqdefault.jpg "Eduard Tubin - Symphony No. 11 [unfinished] (Score Video)
Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arvo Volmer
Eduard Tubin (1905-1982) was an Estonian composer and conductor, his countrys most prolific and arguably greatest symphonist. Having completed his studies under another very prominent Estonian composer, Heino Eller (whose music I also plan to upload), in independent Estonia, Tubin fled following the Soviet reoccupation of his country in 1944. He settled permanently in Sweden for the rest of his life, writing many of his most important works, being elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and becoming a Swedish citizen in 1961. In addition to an impressive eleven symphonies, Tubin wrote two operas, the first Estonian ballet (Kratt), concerti for double bass and balalaika, choral music, art songs, and chamber and solo works (particularly violin and piano music.)
For those unacquainted with Tubin, his orchestral music - particularly the symphonies of his middle and later period - shares some common elements with Shostakovich, often marrying relatively rigid formal structures like fugues with rather astringent harmonic ideas and an unexpected emotional intensity. He also often brought Estonian folk music into several of his works. Although Tubins work was initially somewhat unrecognized outside Estonia (even in Sweden), it has gained prominence in the last few decades due to the efforts of Estonian conductors including Neeme and Paavo Järvi.
The eleventh symphony, which Tubin was working on when he passed away in 1982, combines the aforementioned characteristics with a rather bright orchestration typical of his later music. The last minute or so of the first movement was completed by the Estonian-Canadian composer Kaljo Raid, resulting in the recording here; the score I have available is a copy of Tubins manuscript and thus does not contain this completion.
I now have scores of all of Tubins symphonies except the first; some of them are scans of old and battered copies, so they will take a little longer to upload - especially as most of his symphonic works are quite substantial in both musical material and length. I also plan to post his balalaika concerto soon, so if you enjoyed this work, stay tuned for more!")
![Vasily Kalinnikov - The Cedar and the Palm, symphonic picture (Score Video) [N. Järvi]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qdxe9NZg7EU/hqdefault.jpg "Vasily Kalinnikov - The Cedar and the Palm, symphonic picture (Score Video) [N. Järvi]
Performed by the Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Neeme Järvi
Based on a poem by Heinrich Heine (English translation by Hal Draper)
Ein Fichtenbaum steht einsam
Im Norden auf kahler Höh.
Ihn schläfert; mit weißer Decke
Umhüllen ihn Eis und Schnee.
Er träumt von einer Palme,
Die, fern im Morgenland,
Einsam und schweigend trauert
Auf brennender Felsenwand.
A pine is standing lonely
In the North on a bare plateau.
He sleeps; a bright white blanket
Enshrouds him in ice and snow.
He’s dreaming of a palm tree
Far away in the Eastern land
Lonely and silently mourning
On a sunburnt rocky strand.
Vasily Kalinnikov (1866-1901) was a Russian composer who, if not for his death from tuberculosis at the age of 35, would undoubtedly have become a leading light of Russian music. Kalinnikov - who counted both Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff among his friends and advocates - is best known for his two vibrant symphonies, which are masterfully orchestrated and draw from rich Russian folk melodies; both works are achieving increasing recognition outside of the USSR, particularly among youth orchestras and community orchestras. The Cedar and the Palm, which Kalinnikov completed in 1898 - the year after his second symphony - is in a similar vein, although perhaps more rhapsodic in quality than some of his other orchestral works.
Read more about Kalinnikov on my blog here: https://unknowncomposers.org/2019/03/25/special-feature-vasily-kalinnikov-the-forgotten-russian-romantic/
A full score can be found at the New York Philharmonic archives: https://archives.nyphil.org/index.php/artifact/c3e6418e-44e4-4ab8-8eb8-cf833f3d84cc-0.1/fullview#page/1/mode/1up. An IMSLP score is also available but is missing page 7 (page 9 in the NY Phil edition.)")
