Patricia Kaas: Dans ma chair CD Track Listing

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Patricia Kaas Dans ma chair (1997)
\n\nAlong with ihe genial temper of the music, it is the\nrigorous logic central to Sibeliuss conception of symphonic\nform that particularly characterises the first movement of\nhis Third Symphony (1907). Compressed from four movements to\nthree, the works overall structure finds room in its\ncentral Andantino for elements of both intermezzo and slow\nmovement along Brahmsian lines. It also blends disparate\nstrands in the course of its extraordinary\nscherzo-cum-finale, which is emphatically split into two\nhalves like the last movement of Schumanns Second Symphony.\n\nOnly twice after this did Sibelius return to anything like a\ntraditional four-movement symphonic layout: in the Fourth\nSymphony of 1911, and in the Sixth, completed in 1923 and\npremiered under the composers direction in Helsinki on 19\nFebruary of that year. His usual modest orchestral resources\nare supplemented here by a bass clarinet and a harp, but the\ncolour palette to which these additions contribute is\nparadoxically cooler and more restrained than ever. Indeed,\nthe Sixth Symphony as a whole is one of the composers least\ndemonstrative works. It seems to turn its back on all the\nfamiliar apparatus of the sonata style from Beethoven\nonwards, replacing sharp tonal contrast and dynamic emphasis\nwith a fluent polyphonic purity that draws eloquence from\nits very air of understatement.\n\nThrough Sibeliuss symphonic canon, the tendency to bring\nseparate movements under the umbrella of a new and broader\nsuperstructure had been proceeding at once with ingenuity\nand with an impressive clarity and calmness. It was in the\nSeventh Symphony that he finally succeeded in taking the\nprocess to its logical conclusion, encompassing all the\ndiverse elements of a works musical material within the\nlimits of one single movement.\n\nEven more than with No. 6, it would be a mistake to listen\nto the Seventh Symphony with a mind tuned to sonata-form\nprocedures. This idiosyncratic yet masterly structure\nfollows no a priori patterns. Though there are abundant\ncontrasts of tempo, they are articulated through a natural\nprocess of growth that will be most readily perceptible to\nan ear free of preconceptions. Along with the wisps of\nthematic material almost diffidently thrown out in the\nopening bars, the broad solo-trombone melody heard a few\nminutes into the work contains the seeds of all that\nfollows. Correspondingly, when the end comes, it comet with\na cadential consummation of C major arresting in its\nsimplicity and its utterly punctual concision.\n\nSibeliuss standing as a symphonist does not depend only on\nworks that carry the generic title. The tautly unified\nstructure of pieces like The Swan of Tuonela is symphonic in\nthe broader sense of the word, and if the Seventh Symphony\nof 1924 stands as the official conclusion of his work in the\ngenre, the broadly programmatic symphonic poem Tapiola\nwritten two years later exemplifies similar formal\nprinciples and follows them with comparable precision and\nsinglemindedness.\n\nLike much of the composers music, Tapiola takes its\ninspiration from the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic.\nTapio is the mythological god of the forest. But instead of\nciting the Kalevala explicitly, Sibelius wrote his own four\nlines of poetic text to head the score and suggest its\nimaginative content:\n\nWidespread they stand, the Northlands dusky forests,\nAncient, mysterious, brooding savage dreams; Within them\ndwells the Forests mighty God, And wood-sprites in the\ngloom weave magic secrets.\n\nFor the subject matter of the Lemmink

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