JAN SIBELIUS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 118, 20 May 1932, Page 5

JAN SIBELIUS

A GREAT COMPOSES

SLOW APPRECIATION

Mr. Cecil Gray has published a study^ of Sibelius, and it appears at a very; opportune moment, for if the wide popu-' • larity "Valse Triste" gave once .'■.*■ f wrong version of its composer's genius, the . devoted labours, of Sir Henry J, Wood and Sir Hamilton Harty- arc beaimg fruit, and the public at large is be ginning to appreciate Sibelius at something like his true worth,-writes F; Bonavia in the "Daily Telpgraph." If, much that should be fairly familiar remains unknown, the symphonies hays achieved such a measure of success that they are not likely to be lightly dis-' missed in the future. . ■'". .. £;*; The violin concerto .may still fait to. convince concert promoters, but wher-r ever it has been played by Mr. Arthur. Catterall the English audience haY never failed to-declare-its delight iii the performance. This may be less thaa one could wish —Mr: Gray thinks it far; too little—but it is something consider-; ing the obstacles that inevitably impede the course of any art that is profoundly individual: and profoundly, original. ' .' •7; Moreover, the modern. amateur has difficulties to contend with which were unknown, to the last generation. It ia~ not easy to .discriminate between the rival claims, advanced to : day. by the. various schools of every country., An.d in England, the practitioner of music, who found in'-the old' Germanic tradition ' a watertight foundation for his theo- ' retical knowledge may/ still look with. suspicion on. a composer-who indulge*, in " pedals " as freely as ■ Sibelius, and, without explanatory programmes, puts harmony to new uses. . . . „.-■' TWO COMPOSERS. V The comparatively slow progress ia ■ the appreciation of Sibelius when eotitrasted with that; of Grieg is but th« measure of the former's originality. Grieg owed his rapid success to the fact that he grafted a new plant oil, toan old but vigorous stem. The flower which came' of it was small and charming; in shape it was something new and delicate; but in every other way it coif-' formed with accepted. notions of wliatsuch a growth should be. h>. The compositions of Sibelius we know best suggest an artist who has _lived his life and developed his art apirt' from the main currents of European.': ■ music. There are exceptions. But ;in.' his most characteristic works, the shape of his melodies, the constitution of his. harmonies, his use of the piano or.tte orchestra, are unlike anything written by any other composer. He' is just ttie /" kind of musician whose aims and ideas ' can be better understood and more firmly grasped after the study of such: a book-as this. ■ V. Before coming to close quarters with his subject, Mr. Gray has had to clear, the ground df various misconceptions— which, he has done with, engaging ruth.* lessness. Sometimes he overshoots the mark. It is a little-unkind of him Jo"' suggest that' Helsingf of s is'supposed. ; by most people to be a_cbllection of'logcabins and ice-huts, and that Finland is inhabited by a backward and primitive race. More often, however j there are excellent reasons for his strictures. .':„ It is lamentable to think that Sibe- . ling's music; for :?fTher_Tempest"hai' never been heard in England; an,4,; indeed, is unlikely to be.heard, ''sins* there is no theatre capable of accdmmqr dating an orchestra as large as that enii .ployed by Sibelius." ..And there is nothing to be said in defence of various heresies of Weissinan and others lnewi---lessly ■ exposed by Mr. Gray. He" is most illuminating when, in the preliminary chapters, he traces one by one the links connecting the art of tie composer with the genius of his race. He is not obsessed by the idea of "nationalism," and, indeed, he has taken pains to .make-clear the difference between, the conscious nationalism of a De Falla or Bartok.on the one hand'and the unr consciously national character of a lionteverdi. ■ "• ■■ Having thus eliminated every possibility' of misunderstanding, Mr. Gray; traces the connection between the love of Nature, the undefinable 'f magic" typical of Sibelius's music and certaia features of Finnish life and modern Finnish architecture described in a passage of prose that is not less eloquent for being restrained. As an interpretation of. Sibelius Js art ' the volume is admirable. The analysis of the symphonies, like the summary of miscellaneous works, is always .penetrating, sober, and scholarly^ Here-and there a passage may seem to betray a touch of intolerance. And yet on reflection it must be acknowledged that it is not the author's judgment which is at fault. It may seem ungenerous to say of Franek's symphony that it ia "the -unapproachable model of everything f'that; should' be ; avoided- in sym-: phonic writing." .'But it cannot be dcV nied that it is, as Mr. Gray asserts, long-winded, that its melodies are clogging, arid " its'•" chromatic harmonies "slimy." , . ■ • . ... "i% No. doubt some will open their -eye» wide when they read that not even th,* '' Eroica'' and the '' Choral can rank above . Sibelius's second, fourth, ail fifth symphonies for constructive mastery and intellectual power. But Mr. Gray admits -that Sibelius lacks'warmth, and humanity.: "One will; search ;in. . vain for anything to compare with the deep, heart:sea<rchiug,' slow movements of Beethoven, which seem to bear with-r in them the-very secret, of the •univ«rsie, and go fa'r-W-'justify- the ways of God to Man."....;'; •■■■' .