Jean Sibelius (1865 -- 1957)composed over 100 songs during his career, but they have been overshadowed by his orchestral works. Sibelius did not have the same fluency in writing for voice and piano as he showed in composing for the orchestra. He was uncomfortable with the piano and arranged many of his songs for orchestral accompaniment. Most of Sibelius's texts are in Swedish, which was the composer's first language, with a relatively small number in Finnish, German, and one in English. Sibelius set poets, such as Johan Runeberg (1804-1877) who remain little known outside Scandanavia. But for all the obscurity and mixed quality of the songs, there is lovely music to be found in them. This CD includes 30 Sibelius songs, ranging from his first song composed in 1898 to one of his final songs composed in 1925, performed by two promising young Finnish artists, the tenor Hannu Jurmu and pianist Jouni Somero. Jurmu sings these difficult songs expressively and well; his voice is sometimes throaty in negotiating large leaps and high notes in Sibelius's scores. I grew to enjoy these songs more with each hearing. The CD is available on Naxos and is the first of what I assume will be a 3 or 4 CD collection of the complete Sibelius songs. In listening to the songs, I had the benefit of Robert Layton's study, "Sibelius" (1992) in the Master Musicians series. Unfortunately, this book is out-of-print. It has an excellent chapter discussing Sibelius's songs in detail.
The album cover for this CD prominently displays the English names of three of Sibelius's relatively better-known songs: "Black Roses", "The Tryst, and "Was it a Dream?" These songs are written in a florid, late romantic style as are some others on this CD, including "The First Kiss." ("The First Kiss" and a better song titled "Reed, reed, rustle", track 6 appear on this CD in two different versions. The latter-track versions are early efforts of Sibelius and do not have an opus number.)
These three named songs are in a style that will be familiar to lovers of late romantic music. But Sibelius is at his best in his songs in a different style. His better songs are melancholy and spare and feature descriptions of nature. These songs generally tend as well to have simpler piano accompaniments than do the more romantic songs.
The songs I most enjoyed on this CD include the lyrically simple opening track, "To Evening" and its companion, "Driftwood" (track 9). The German songs, "In the Field a Maiden Sings" track 13) and "The Silent City" (track 15) are also lovely in their lyricism and simplicity. The Finnish song "The Echo Nymph" (track 11) has a flowing melodic line. The six short songs collected as opus 88 are short and somewhat slight portrayals of objects in nature. The late song "Narcissus" (track 29) in Swedish is one of Sibelius's finest songs with a delicate treatment of its theme. And Sibelius's only song set in English, the "Hymn to Thais" (track 30) is surprisingly eloquent, even though the English words are almost impossible to understand. There is also an early song, not recorded before, called "orgies" which in its frenetic style amply suggests its subject matter.
Sibelius's songs are worth getting to know, and they add to his stature as a composer. They are idiosyncratic, as is much of the composer's work, and probably not the best place to start for listeners unfamiliar with art song. Listeners who love Sibelius and who have some familiarity with the genre of art song will enjoy this CD. Naxos is doing a service in making Sibelius's songs accessible.