(The Lover), Op. 14, is a suite by Jean Sibelius. He completed it in 1912, scored for string orchestra, percussion and triangle. He based it on his earlier composition of the same title, a song cycle of four movements for men's chorus a cappella completed in 1894. The works are based on a Finnish text in Book 1 of the Kanteletar.
History In 1894, Sibelius completed , a cycle of four a cappella songs for men's chorus on a Finnish text in Book 1 of the collection of Finnish folk poems, the Kanteletar. He first set it in 1894, as an entry for a local competition. He won the second prize, while the first prize went to his former teacher. Sibelius arranged the cycle for men's chorus and string orchestra in 1894, and for mixed choir in 1898.
Sibelius used the cycle as the basis for the orchestral suite for string orchestra, percussion and triangle, to which he assigned the opus number 14. He completed it in 1912, when he also wrote his Fourth Symphony. Sibelius often conducted the suite together with his symphonies because the piece "captivated audiences".
Music
Structure of the song cycle
Structure of the suite
, Andante con moto (common time, D minor) (The way of the lover), Allegretto (, B major) (Good evening, farewell), Andantino (cut time, F major & D minor)
In the first movement, the strings sound light and beautiful. The choral part of the second movement was changed to "murmurs on the strings and wonderfully flexible melodic progressions." The third movement is deeply emotional as its model.
Discography The sortable table below contains other commercially available recordings of orchestral version of Rakastava: ConductorEnsembleTimeRecording venueLabel1Leslie Howard String Orchestra194110:38Birmingham Town HallHis Master's Voice2Vienna State Opera Orchestra??Vanguard3Arthur Winograd String Orchestra??MGM4U.S.S.R. State Radio and TV Symphony Orchestra196212:48?Yedang Classics5The Little Orchestra of London11:45?Unicorn-Kanchana6Stockholm Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble196911:44Studio 4, Swedish Radio7Hallé Orchestra196912:54Kingsway HallEMI Classics8Hamburg Symphony12:39?Allegria9197411:33Sibelius AcademyBIS10Espoo Chamber Orchestra197711:44Finlandia Hall; Espoo Records11Academy of St Martin in the Fields197710:47Kingsway HallArgo12Scottish National Orchestra197712:16Motherwell Town HallChandos13Orchestra da Camera di Roma??Peters International14Radio-Tele-Luxembourg Symphony Orchestra12:06?15 Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra198515:01Gothenburg Concert HallBIS16English String Orchestra198810:50Great Hall, University of BirminghamNimbus17Cappella Istropolitana198912:53Moyzes Hall, BratislavaNaxos18Tapiola Sinfonietta198911:01Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural CentreFinlandia19199010:35Tapiola Hall, Espoo Cultural CentreVox Artis201991?Tampere Hall21CBC Vancouver Orchestra199211:05OrpheumCBC Records22Colburn Chamber Orchestra199212:53Bridges Hall of MusicAmbassador23The Helsinki Junior Strings199210:40?Finlandia24Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra199310:54Finlandia25199411:01Ondine26London Symphony Orchestra199414:40Blackheath Concert HallsRCA Red Seal27200111:5628Lahti Symphony Orchestra200212:18Sibelius HallBIS29Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra200610:28Stockholm Concert Hall30Chamber Domaine201710:57Sidney Sussex College Chapel; St Mary's Church, West MallingResonus Classics31Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra202011:16Helsinki Music CentreBIS32Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra202111:55Grieg HallChandos
Literature Tomi Mäkelä: "Jean Sibelius und seine Zeit" (German), (tr. "Jean Sibelius and his time") Laaber-Verlag, Regensburg 2013
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