Sibelius Orchestral Works: An Owner's Manual (Unlocking the Masters)
by Hurwitz David
Book Summary Information
Author: Hurwitz DavidEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-03-01
ISBN: 1574671499
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Amadeus Press
Book Reviews of Sibelius Orchestral Works: An Owner's Manual (Unlocking the Masters)
Book Review: Not ideal for those looking for a more abstract introduction, but perhaps useful for people brought up on Romanticism
Summary: 3 Stars
David Hurwitz's SIBELIUS, THE ORCHESTRAL WORKS: An Owner's Manual" is a guide to the symphonies and major tone poems of the great Finnish composer, meant for an audience of home listeners who may not be able to read music. He attempts to give people a movement-by-movement guide to what is going on within each work, concentrating on the musical development itself and not really the historical background of the pieces. If you are a novice classical listener who still has difficulties with recognizing things like sonata form, Hurtwitz's book can be useful to better understand how Sibelius structured this music so successfully. Hurwitz's also brings one's attention to aspects of Sibelius' orchestration that one might initially overlook.
Still, there's much I don't like about the book. Hurwitz's knocks of modernism seem entirely unnecessary, and his neglect of some figures in favour of less important ones is ridiculous (Dvorak was the great master of using "fake" folk materials, not Bartok?). Throughout he speaks of the music in arbitary terms ("this sounds like a forest", "the Third is a story of tragedy") that might make sense to people brought up on a diet of Romanticism, but will probably alienate people who want to enjoy the music as abstraction. The book also introduces in boxed texts several later Finnish composers who were inspired to some degree by Sibelius, and some extracts of their works are included on a second CD. Why he limited himself to Finnish composers I don't know (maybe Ondine wanted his help in marketing), but Sibelius' influence spread throughout all the Nordic countries. The Danish composer Vagn Holmboe, for example, would be better selected to show such influence than Magnus Lindberg, whose generation was trying to shake Sibelius off. Another Danish composer, Per Norgard, has long spoken of his admiration for the last movement of the Fifth, where Sibelius has a theme moving in different tempi simultaneously, and Norgard sees it as an inspiration for his own infinity series.
If you can read music, a great guide to Sibelius' Fifth is tSibelius: Symphony No. 5 (Cambridge Music Handbooks) by James Hepokoski. I hope to find similar more rigorous introductions to the other symphonies. But for listeners who don't want anything academic, I'd still suggest looking at Hurwitz's book, though it is sure not to please everyone.
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