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Sibelius
The Origin Of Fire an Pohjola's Daughter coupled with Violin Concerto
of Glazunov on Remington R-199-191 .

Go
to the site of the Helsinki University Chorus - Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat.
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When the Helsinki
University Chorus went on tour to North America in 1953, it concertized
in more than 30 towns and cities in the US and Canada.
In most places the chorus sang a capella. But in Cincinnati the program
contained also a composition written for baritone solo, chorus and
orchestra.
Don Gabor and
Laszlo Halasz, through their contacts with the Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra and conductor Thor Johnson, saw an opportunity to make recordings
of this Finnish wonder of harmony, strength and authenticity. These
characterizations were then and still are the hallmarks of this excellent
ensemble of male voices.

Soloist,
chorus, orchestra and conductor taking their bow.
The day after the first
concert of the Chorus of the Helsinki University in Cincinnati's Music
Hall, music critic Arthur Darack reported in the Cincinnati
Enquirer of November 21, 1953:
"This
Finnish male chorus, 60 in number, produces a brilliant sound,
almost a hard sound, but is uncanny in its response to direction
and in rapier-like thrusting with musical sound.
The bass sounds reverberate, producing an organ-like ground,
and the higher sounds are fused into a unified and exhilarating
tonal mass. In a word, the chorus is terrific."
"The (...) Sibelius "Origin of Fire" for the chorus, solo
and orchestra, is to be recorded this morning and will duly
appear on Remington Records one of these days. As sung and
played yesterday, it should be taken up by Sibelius enthusiasts,
who will find it in the full Sibelius tradition."
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The recordings
were made during the stay of the chorus in Cincinnati on the 20th
and 21st of November 1953, nearly at the end of the American tour.
One recording was of the performance of an early composition of Jean
Sibelius entitled "The Origin of Fire", the work Arthur
Darack was referring to. It is Op. 23 and not the top of Sibelius's
oeuvre. It was hardly ever performed in the nineteen fifties and even
today there is only one recording of it, conducted by Neëme Jarvi.
It is set for baritone, male voices and orchestra. The text is part
of the Finnish epos "Kalevala" and should be seen, or better:
heard, in the context of this epos. Sibelius was not satisfied with
his composition and revised it in 1910. Nevertheless it represents
a very authentic Sibelius. Putting it on the program must have been
a somewhat daring deed at the time.
During the stay in Cincinnati also tone poems of Finnish composers
Unno Kalervo Klami (who studied with Ravel) and Leevi Annti
Madetoja (a pupil of Sibelius) were performed.
Through this music, and the solo pieces, the audience came into contact
with the sound of the Finnish language that has by its significant
use of vowels a pure and strong impact on the listener. The soloist
in the performance of "The Origin of Fire" was Sulo Saarits.
The second
recording session was of the chorus singing a capella.
The program consists of various songs written by several Finnish composers
who wrote specifically for male voice choir, and compositions by Tomás
Luis da Victoria, and by Palestrina. The program ends with Handel's
famous Hallelujah Chorus from "The Messiah". The Handel
piece was possibly included for the purpose of giving the average
music lover a reason to by the record. Gabor was very good at designing
strategies for the proliferation of his product.
When recording the chorus
a capella and together with the Cincinnati Symphony, Robert
E. Blake, Don Gabor's recording engineer, did apply the multiple microphone
placement as used for the MUSIRAMA releases. Four microphones
were used.
Remarkable is that he did the recordings of What is remarkable and
he did the recording in stereo! Imagine this was in 1953!
1953 was the year of "The Robe", the first movie
in the new format of Cinemascope. Cinemascope had a stereo soundtrack,
recorded on Westrex recorders. What Hollywood can, we can do too must
have been the idea of Gabor, Halasz and engineer Blake. Although the
stereo gramophone record was not yet launched, many audiophiles were
already using stereo tape recorders in those days. However these recordings
were never issued on tape The tracks of the recordings in Cincinati
were mixed down for the release of the recording in mono.

Martti
Turunen (1902-1979) conducting the chorus singing a capella during
the recording session for Remington Records. Left from center in
foreground baritone Sulus Saarits.
For the recording of
the chorus singing a capella, the men were positioned close to the
back wall on the stage of Cincinnati's Music Hall. The photograph
taken during the recording session suggests that there are five microphones.
One positioned relatively high for capturing the overall sound image.
One microphone is placed in the left section of the chorus, relatively
close to the wall (as can be seen by the shadow) and just above head
level A third microphone captures the right section, but is placed
in front of the singers, also slightly above the heads of the singers,
close to conductor Martti Turunen. In front of the soloist there are
two microphones clamped to a horizontal bar.
These recordings made
in November 1953 were the first commercial stereo recordings issued
on Lp. In February 1954 it was RCA who made their first commercial
stereophonic recordings.

REMINGTON
R-199-167: A Recital of The Helsinki University Chorus (Ylioppilaskunnan
Laulajat), conductor Martti Turunen. Soloists: Rafael Sora and Veikko
Tyrvainen. Recorded during the second tour to North America in Cincennati
in 1953.
The program:
#1 Finlandia (Sibelius),
#2 Sydämeni Laulu (Sibelius),
#3 Paan (Haapalainen),
#4 Karjalan Kunnailla (Turunen),
#5 Laululle (Kilpinen),
#6 Tuutulaulu (Palmgren),
#7 Soliseva Vesi (Sonninen),
#8 Kit-kat Kat-kat (Törnudd),
#9 Kotimaani Ompi Suomi (Turunen),
#10 Disciplinae Filius (Klemetti),
#11 Amoris Opulentiam (Klemetti),
#12 O vos Omnes (Tomás Luis da Victoria),
#13. Sanctus (Palestrina),
#14. Halleluja (Hallelujah) Chorus from "The Messiah"
(Handel).
The chorus
as it is today has a vast repertory and made many CD-recordings
but I only could discover "Sydämeni Laulu", Turunen's
beautiful "Karjalan Kunailla" and Palmgren's sweet "Tuutulaulu"
(Lullaby) on the Compact Disc recordings.
REMINGTON
R-199-191: Helsinki University Chorus with The Cincinnati Symphony
Orchestra, conductor
Thor Johnson. Sulo
Saarits, baritone. Sibelius: The Origin of Fire, op. 32; Sibelius:
Pohjola’s Daughter, op. 49. Recorded during the second tour to North
America.
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The
Origin of Fire, Pohjolas Daughter and Songs A Capella released
on Varèse-Sarabande VC 81041 in Stereo.
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These performances
on R-199-191 were coupled with Glazunov's Violin Concerto performed
by André Gabriel (said to be a pseudonymn for Roman Totenberg,
or Tossy Spivakovsky?) and the RIAS Symphony conducted by Georg Ludwig
Jochum (brother of conductor Eugen Jochum). The records were released
in 1955.
The Origin of Fire was also performed during the first American
tour in 1938 in Boston and New York with the Boston Symphony under
Sergei Koussevitzky (ref. Martti Turunen's article from 1938
on http://www.genealogia.fi).
The stereo-tapes
of "The Origin of Fire", "Pohjola's Daughter" and 8 selections from
the original recital recording of R-199-167 were reissued by Tom Null
on Varèse-Sarabande stereo Lp, reference VC 81041. Some equalization
had to be applied to match the modern RIAA equalization curve. The
Varèse-Sarabande release shows all too well that the Remington
discs did not fully show the quality of the original tapes made in
1953 by Robert Blake, nor did the Remington discs show the
full impact which the performances must have had on the audience.
The recordings were supervised by Don Gabor and Laszlo Halasz.

Map
drawn by hand (as published in the book about the history of the Helsinki
University Chorus) with the names of cities and dates of the American
Tour in 1953. The tour took place from November 1, 1953 (when they
arrived by plane at Boston Airport), till December 22, 1953. The last
concert was given in New York on December 20, 1953. Click on the image
to view a large map.
The Helsinki
University Chorus (YL), founded in 1883, is the oldest Finnish-language
choir in Finland.
The chorus made many recordings on CD. If you want to get acquainted
with the expressive and both strong and refined singing of this chorus,
I would recommend the Finlandia CD of Songs for Male Voice Choir by
Jean Sibelius. The CD contains 25 songs and opens with a powerful
Finlandia, followed by the famous Rakastava. The recording sounds
very well because multibit AD-conversion -the magnificent Sony 1610
converter- and not a low bit converter was used. The reference number
is FACD-205-S.
More recently
the chorus recorded the "Complete Songs for Male Voice Choir"
by Selim Palmgren. These recordings are especially of interest to
lovers of choral singing and to choruses searching for new material
to extend their repertory.
Rudolf A. Bruil,
page first published in the Fall of 2000.
(Photos courtesy
The Helsinki University Chorus, Finland)
In May 2003 YL and
Ondine Records
signed an exclusive recording contract. And on March 29 and
April 5, 2008 the YL Male Voice Choir gave concerts to celebrate its
125th
anniversary.
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