Description on Youtube:
Sibelius' shortest tone poem, 'The Bard' (a Lento assai: Largamente), for Harp and Orchestra, is, perhaps, one of his most personal pieces. The tone poem does not actually use any of the tools, the elements of a tone poem.
The piece is pure melancholy throughout; and the sadness expressed is at once both bleak and beautiful. This tone poem, in my opinion, rivals Sibelius' wonderful Fourth Symphony (which was composed around the same time and in the midst of a deep and difficult depression for Sibelius) as a piece that carries the depths of despair from man to the music.
A Bard was, especially in Scandinavian history, a person who composed and recited epic or heroic poems while playing the harp or the like as early Scandinavian history ("Viking" history, though I hate the misunderstanding of the term "Viking") was never recorded in writing. Therefore, the Bards were the source for the maintenance of the tales and the creation of the great stories that would someday become the Eddas and Sagas of the great men and women of the North, those we now know today in "Viking" lore.
Perhaps appropriately, the Harp carries the piece, defining the character and mood of the musical texture. Also, quite appropriately, The tone poem opens with a sequence of descending chords played soley by the harp. In ancient times, Harps were most often carried by Druids and Druids were not to be trifled with, so my take (and this in only MY opinion, though I do study A LOT of Scandinavian and "Viking" history) is that the Harp is the tool which Sibelius uses to harken back to his ancient people; ever the Finnish "Nationalist", Sibelius loved to use music to express the stories, the people, the landscapes of Finland.
And I think he did a fantastic job, on all 3 accounts, in every piece that he wrote. Performing here are Paavo Berglund (arguably, I argue that he IS, one of the great Sibelius interpreters) and the Bournemouth Symphony Orhcestra.
Enjoy!
