Spring Song (in Swedish: ; in Finnish: ), Op. 16, is a single-movement tone poem for orchestra written in 1894 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.
History The piece was initially composed as Improvisation for Orchestra, in the key of D major. It was premiered on 21 July 1894 at an outdoor festival in Vaasa, organized by the (). Short, lyrical, and delicately scored, Sibelius's piece was ill-suited for the open-air concert, and the audience received it less enthusiastically than another work on the program: Korsholm, by Sibelius's brother-in-law and friend Armas Järnefelt. Shortly therefore, Sibelius withdrew Improvisation for revision. In 1895, he recast it in F major and retitled the work Spring Song (), appending the subtitle "The Sadness of Spring" to that (unpublished) version.
Instrumentation Spring Song is scored for the following instruments, organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings):
2 flutes (each doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B), and 2 bassoons 4 horns (in F), 3 trumpets (in F), 3 trombones, and tuba Timpani and tubular bells ("glocken") Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses
The piece contains an optimism that is relatively rare among Sibelius' works. It is known for its prominent use of tubular bells at the end of the song.
Structure Spring Song takes about 8 minutes to play.
Discography The sortable table below lists commercially available recordings of Spring Song: ConductorOrchestraTimeRecording venueLabel1Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra19738:21Southampton GuildhallEMI Classics2Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra19756:56Liverpool Philharmonic HallEMI Classics3Royal Scottish National Orchestra19777:10Glasgow City HallsChandos4 (1)Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (1)19868:17Gothenburg Concert HallBIS5Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra19918:19Mosfilm StudiosBrilliant Classics6 (2)Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (2)19947:46Gothenburg Concert HallDeutsche Grammophon7 (1)Lahti Symphony Orchestra (1)19998:14RistinkirkkoBIS820028:32Finlandia9 (2)Lahti Symphony Orchestra (2)20077:34Sibelius HallBIS10Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra20078:56Finlandia HallOndine11Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra20187:45Grieg HallChandos12BBC Symphony Orchestra20189:03Watford ColosseumChandos
Notes, references, and sources
External links