Re: Sibelius/Gould and polar bears

[Anssi Korhonen <altkorho@MAPPI.HELSINKI.FI>]

Lainaus Jacqueline Colombier <jpc171@HOTMAIL.COM>:

> Bonjour F minor,
>
> - I have just ended a biography on Sibelius and I feel amazed by the
> tormented life of the man : he found help in alcohol and tobacco which
> was
> much better for him than the medications Gould took  = Sibelius  pointed
> out
> ironically that the physicians who advised him to stop tobacco and
> alcohol
> were all dead = himself died at 92 !
> In fact, it's impressive how Sibelius was so similar to Gould in terms
> of
> intimate conditions for creation.
> In that book Gould's name is mentioned as one of the rare pianists
> having
> played Sibelius, the second one being Wilhelm Kempf : does any one know
> about Kempf playing Sibelius ?
> - Addendum : Tovey - the English musicologist previously quoted -
> described
> the third movement of Sibelius's violin concerto as "a Polonaise for
> polar
> bears"!
>                                 Cordialement,
>                                  Jacqueline
>
Tervehdys, F-minor(*)

I do not know much about Kempff playing Sibelius, but my (un)educated guess
would be that he may have perfomed, in his recitals, some such pieces as the
three Sonatinas, op. 67, Three Lyrical Pieces, op. 41 ("Kyllikki"), and
(perhaps most probably) Romance op. 24, nr. 2 (in C major if I remember aright;
this last piece enjoyed - to my knowledge - some very modest popularity among
the pianists of the early years of this century; at least Alexander Siloti
performed it in his recitals (hope I got the name right - i have difficulties
with the names of Russian musicians)); the first two, of course, are the ones
that Glenn Gould recorded. This, however, is just what i said it is, an (un)
educated guess. I might try checking these things up in E. Tawaststjerna´s
Sibelius-biography, but this will take some time.

But I do remember having heard that Kempff visited Finland several times in the
early 20s. Apparently he lived in Ainola (at Sibelius' home)and it also seems
that the two gentlemen get on very well with each other. At least Sibelius
insisted on Kempff playing Beethoven´s Hammerklavier at least once every day.
So these days in Ainola were not exactly a holiday for the young Kempff.

There´s also an indirect link between Sibelius and Kempff, since one of Kempp´s
pupils, Annette Servadei, has recorded some Sibelius (have not heard these CDs
though). If I should come up with anything, I'll return to Kempff and Sibelius.

Yours,

anssi korhonen

(* a word of Finnish at the beginning, meaning "hello!")
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