Sibelius 2019

A fresh new recording of Jean Sibelius early breakthrough work by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under its conductor Hannu Lintu. This recording with two male choirs, the Estonian National Male Choir and the Polytech Choir, brings up the full drama of this gigantic 70-minute work which during Sibelius lifetime was often referred to as a symphony. The work tells the story of Kullervo, a tragic hero drawn from the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala. While a student in Vienna, Sibelius started planning to write a large work that would crystallize the rising Finnish national feeling in music.

Chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 2013, Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo has a special affinity with the music of his compatriot Sibelius which this recording admirably demonstrates. Sibelius’ ever-popular ‘Lemminkäinen Suite’ is coupled here with ‘Spring Song’, and the lesser-known Suite from ‘Belshazzar’s Feast’. Sibelius composed the ‘Lemminkäinen Suite’ (also called the Four Legends, or Four Legends from the Kalevala), Op. 22, in the 1890s. Originally conceived as a mythological opera, Veneen luominen (The Building of the Boat), the suite is based on the character Lemminkäinen from the Finnish epic, the Kalevala.

After the resounding success of Volume 1 (Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Diapason d’Or, Choc de Classica, FFFF Télérama), the project to record the complete Sibelius symphonies continues with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Santtu-Matias Rouvali, whose career as a conductor is entering top gear: he has just been appointed Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. At the turn of the twentieth century, as Finland struggled to free itself from Russian rule, Sibelius and his wife faced several domestic dramas, including the loss of one of their daughters, Kirsti, to typhoid fever.

In this new concerto album one of the greatest violinists of our time, Christian Tetzlaff, performs two standard violin concertos in fresh new interpretations together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin directed by the orchestra’s exciting new music director, Robin Ticciati. Both Ludwig van Beethoven and Jean Sibelius made outstanding contributions to the history of music as great symphonists. Both composers also wrote a violin concerto – Beethoven wrote his D major concerto in 1806, Sibelius his D minor concerto a century later.

Kullervo represents not only the confident first step in Sibelius's symphonic odyssey, it is also a viscerally exciting experience on its own terms. It is little wonder that the first performance in 1892 was such a triumph for the young composer. This recording from Thomas Dausgaard and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in an unmissable acquisition for anyone who knows only the numbered symphonies.

Internationally acclaimed and Grammy winning conductor Paavo Järvi directs one of the worlds finest orchestra’s, the Orchestre de Paris, in this outstanding collection of all seven of Sibelius’ symphonies. As the music director of Orchestre de Paris (2019-2016), he has performed several works by Sibelius including the seven symphonies. In 2015, he was presented with the Sibelius medal by the Finnish Ambassador to France, Risto Piipponen, for his remarkable work in promoting the music of Sibelius throughout France. Sibelius: Complete Symphonies will be the first ever recording of Sibelius’ complete symphonies by a French orchestra. Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957) is recognized as one of the greatest composers of the late Romantic periods. He is the most noted composer of Finland, and his seven symphonies are regularly performed and recorded both in his home country and worldwide.

The French violinist Ginette Neveu was just 30 when her plane crashed in the Azores in October 1949. She had studied with George Enescu and Carl Flesch, and as The Observer wrote in 1945, “Her playing was superbly vigorous and passionate, and made the impression that its great qualities, such as eloquent phrasing and an apparently limitless range and variety of tone, came from the only true source – an identity with the music and with her instrument.” Her complete recordings, specially remastered from the best sources available, are gathered on these four CDs, with her incandescent Sibelius Concerto taking pride of place.