Tauno Hannikainen

[T.]

A couple weeks ago I came across a used copy a mid-1990s Everest reissue I had long been seeking—Eugene Goossens' recording of Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony. Since then I had been buried in work; only got around to listening to the CD last night. As expected, the Goossens Manfred was bright and colorful as I was hoping. But the real surprise for me was the disc's makeweight—a recording of Sibelius' Tapiola with the LSO under a conductor I had never heard of before, Tauno Hannikainen.

Expectations weren't very high. Figured this was just some random filler to plump up the disc's running time. Silly me! I was blown over by this Tapiola: craggy, muscular, reveling in the music's sheer weirdness. This was a great Tapiola; it may just be my new favorite of all!

So who was this Tauno Hannikainen? Apparently, he had a brief stint in Chicago and was chosen to conduct the music at Sibelius' funeral. Other than that, though, I can't find much else on him. Are there any more recordings of his Sibelius? Did he record anything else? Inquiring minds want to know!

[John Wiser]

"T." <testeb...@gmail.com> wrote:

> So who was this Tauno Hannikainen? Apparently, he had a brief stint in Chicago and was chosen to
> conduct the music at Sibelius' funeral. Other than that, though, I can't find much else on him.
> Are there any
> more recordings of his Sibelius? Did he record anything else? Inquiring minds want to know!

This is the easy-to-find stuff:

http://www.amazon.com/Symphonies-2-5-Sibelius/dp/B000000UWN

http://www.amazon.com/Sibelius-Symphony-No-5-Karelia-Suite/dp/B007TB47DY

jdw

[Frank Berger]

At least one other recording: Everest 9035 Sibelius VC with Spivakovsky
from 1960.

[Jerry]

In addition to those Sibelius recordings
already cited, there was a Sibelius 4th
and a Sibelius Four Legends, both produced
by Melodiya (LPs extremely hard to find
with no CD re-issue to the best of my knowledge).

Jerry

[ways]

Sibelius Four Legends available here


http://www.bearacreissues.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=67&category_id=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=12

[Terry]

I'm glad to see the first, the 2-5 double CD set, mentioned. This is one of
the finest mini-collections of Sibelius works available on the market.
Apart from the magnificent performances conducted by Tauno Hannikainen, the
further revelation is what a superb Sibelian Sir Malcolm Sargent is! This
set is a no-brainer, no matter how many Sibelius recordings you might own.
--
Cheers!
Terry.

[Bozo]

>On Thursday, October 24, 2013 3:00:46 AM UTC-5, ways wrote:
> Sibelius Four Legends available here
>

Thanks for this link; good to learn of this source, where a very quick review finds Zhukov playing the complete Scriabin piano sonatas, young Malcuzynski in the Brahms 1st Concerto with Philharmonia/Rieger , and Badura-Skoda in 1953 in the complete Bach Partitas.

[Alan Cooper]

"T." <testeb...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:d9f8d763-14e1-4548...@googlegroups.com:

I got a chuckle out of this post, especially after I checked the archives
and learned that my first posting commending Hannikainen's "Tapiola" was in
a thread from September 1998! Then again in 1999, 2002, etc. Here's a
vivid posting of Simon Clark's from May 5, 2000:

"Maybe it's another one of my quirks - like my love of Silvestri's
performances - but I believe Hannikainen was one of the greatest of all
Sibelius conductors. Both the 2nd and 5th are white hot but not, I
know, to everyone's taste since neither performance is conventional.

"He recorded other Sibelius which is well worth while exploring (or
seeking out). An electrifying Karelia Suite accompanied the 5th on HMV
Concert Classics. The only rival to the power and freezing temperature
of his Tapiola (with the LSO, available on Everest) is, to my mind,
Beecham. That was on vinyl once, coupled with a wonderful (if slow)
Violin Concerto with Tossy Spivakovsky (it was also once on an Everest
CD - does anyone know where I could get it?)

"He also recorded for USSR Melodiya - 4th Symphony, Lemminkainen Legends
(all 4 of them - try Lemminkainen's Return!!), Finlandia (the brass
spit blood!) and a Valse Triste. Other than Sibelius, Hannikainen
recorded a piece each by Jarnefelt and Klami for Melodiya on a 10 inch
vinyl.

"In addition, I have a Sibelius Violin Concerto with Kagan and
Hannikainen conducting the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, recorded
on 8 December 1965 at the Jean Sibelius Competition, Helsinki. This is
on a Live Classics CD, LCL 143. It is not quite as fine as
Spivakovsky's but Hannikainen is on top form."

For the record (and once again repeating myself repeating myself), the
Spivakovsky/Hannikainen recording of the Sibelius VC is one of the few
indispenable recordings of the work, imo. Weighty, bleak, and anguished--
unlike any other recording I know.

Somewhere I have digital transfers of the Melodiya recordings. I'll try to
find them and upload, but iirc they are poor quality. If anyone else who
has them would like to oblige, by all means....

AC

[Jerry]

Thank you for the summary.

I would also direct attention to:

http://musicparlourhistorical.blogspot.com/search/label/SIBELIUS

This site claims that the World Record Club LP of Sibelius'
Andante Festivo is (despite label to the contrary) a Hannikainen-
conducted rehearsal for the later Sibelius-conducted performance
(since issued on an Ondine CD 1037-2).

Jerry

[Lawrence Chalmers]

[Lawrence Chalmers]

On Wednesday, October 23, 2013 3:40:47 PM UTC-7, T. wrote:

I saw and ordered from Presto a Magdalen 2-cd set of Sibelius 2 & 5, Violin Concerto, Tapiola, Swan and another (not the 4th symphony). the soloist is Spivakovsky. I don'y know if the concerto is that of the Everest recording
but from what I heard about it and hope its the same. My friend told me (IIRC)
that Hannikainen was a Sibelius' son-in-law. I'm off to google-land for clues...

[Frank Berger]

Hopefully you realize that on that set, Lemminkainen's Return is
conducted by Sixten Ehrling and the Swan of Tuonela is conducted by
Anthony Collins. The rest is by Hannikainen.

[Dave Cook]

On 2013-10-23, T. <testeb...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Tapiola with the LSO under a conductor I had never heard of before,
> Tauno Hannikainen.

If you're willing to pay $18 for 45 minutes of music, HD Tracks offers
this and the VC with Spivakovsky as a 24/96 download.

https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=catalogdetail&valbum_code=HD058622474129

Dave Cook

[meistersin...@yahoo.com]

> Somewhere I have digital transfers of the Melodiya recordings. I'll try to
>
> find them and upload, but iirc they are poor quality. If anyone else who
>
> has them would like to oblige, by all means....
>
> AC

I'd love to hear them, Alan, if you can find them.

[Saint Russell]

It seems more likely to me that there has been some confusion of the names Tauno Hannikainen and Toivo Haapanen. The articles on this subject in Finnish Music Quarterly offer a conjectural attribution to Haapanen, who was certainly present for the Sibelius broadcast and is very clearly announced as the conductor of Finlandia (faded prematurely in NBC's retransmission of the shortwave broadcast).

[Lawrence Chalmers]

On Wednesday, October 23, 2013 3:40:47 PM UTC-7, T. wrote:

I didn't know that Magdalen set had different conductors. But Collins and Erling are conductors I am familiar with and doesn't diminish the anticipation of getting it. It was shipped today so I should get it some time next week.

(Pardon my grammar please...)

[gggg gggg]

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Oct/Forgotten-artists-29.pdf

[Dan Koren]

The time machine only went back 9 years this time ?!?
You really need to have it repaired!

[Alan P Dawes]

In article <0e70f6c2-e787-41e2...@googlegroups.com>,

gggg gggg <gggg...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, October 23, 2013 at 3:40:47 PM UTC-7, T. wrote:
> > A couple weeks ago I came across a used copy a mid-1990s Everest

> > reissue I had long been seeking櫓ugene Goossens' recording of

> > Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony. Since then I had been buried in work;
> > only got around to listening to the CD last night. As expected, the
> > Goossens Manfred was bright and colorful as I was hoping. But the real

> > surprise for me was the disc's makeweight和 recording of Sibelius'

> > Tapiola with the LSO under a conductor I had never heard of before,
> > Tauno Hannikainen.
> >
> > Expectations weren't very high. Figured this was just some random
> > filler to plump up the disc's running time. Silly me! I was blown over
> > by this Tapiola: craggy, muscular, reveling in the music's sheer
> > weirdness. This was a great Tapiola; it may just be my new favorite of
> > all!
> >
> > So who was this Tauno Hannikainen? Apparently, he had a brief stint in
> > Chicago and was chosen to conduct the music at Sibelius' funeral.
> > Other than that, though, I can't find much else on him. Are there any
> > more recordings of his Sibelius? Did he record anything else?
> > Inquiring minds want to know!

> http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2022/Oct/Forgotten-artists-29.pdf

Thank you for that - it took me back to my school days in East London when
I used my dinner money to buy World Record Club recordings. The Sibelius
2nd was one of my purchases.

Alan

--
alan....@argonet.co.uk
alan....@riscos.org
Using an ARMX6