Sibelius - The Early Years; Maturity & Silence
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Ashkenazy
Allegro Films A05CND

Release date October 2006

Christopher Nupen’s two award-winning films on Sibelius, each lasting about 50 minutes, were made in the early 1980s. Nupen focuses on Sibelius’s own words and music, along with the words of his wife, Aino, to portray the composer’s struggle with himself, his work and the world en route to becoming one of the 20th century’s greatest symphonists. This is particularly effective in the first film, where judicious use of film of scenic Finnish landscape and pictures of Sibelius and his family are skilfully interspersed with shots of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra playing his music (satisfyingly long excerpts, I should add). If you watch the second film immediately after the first, the effect palls somewhat, partly due to repeated views of the same scenery and the same limited camera angles. (There’s only a certain amount to be gained from seeing the reflec-tion of a trumpeter in another trumpet.) But for anyone not already well acquainted with Sibelius’s life and music, this DVD provides a fascinating insight into the composer’s development.

Anne McAlister