Säv, säv, susa
(‘Reeds, reeds, whisper’, though more often known as ‘Sigh, sedges, sigh’) is also to a poem of Fröding, a poem that is in itself so rich in verbal music that it must have represented an enormous challenge to the composer. Sometimes known in English as Ingalill
, after the heroine of the poem, it in every way deserves its popularity. Sibelius heightens the music of the words by a gentle, sighing accompaniment of a harp-like character—indeed the harp plays an important part in the orchestral transcription by Alexander Hellman (which Sibelius subsequently authorized) and the return to the opening section is both magical and touching.
from notes by Robert Layton © 2002