Music February 1998
The Sibelius question
On the London Symphony Orchestra’s performances of Sibelius at Avery Fisher Hall & “The Sibelius Symposium” at the Stanley Kaplan Penthouse, Lincoln Center, New York.
The musical reputation of the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865–1957)—deified in the Twenties and Thirties by conductors and public alike, declining markedly in the Forties, and hitting a very deep bottom from the Fifties on—has taken another turn. His shares are up. There is now once more a Sibelius Question. No such thing as a Stravinsky Question or even a Schoenberg Question troubles the sleep of music critics: their respective reputations are secure for the time being.
The renewed controversy about the musical viability and the simple quality of Sibelius’s music was the subject of a series of performances and a symposium in December at Avery Fisher Hall titled “Northern Lights: The Music of Jean Sibelius.” Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony performed three concerts of five of the seven symphonies of the Finnish master, plus a few tone poems and some songs for soprano and orchestra.
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