Nordic natural beauty with Grieg and Sibelius

Programme

Jean Sibelius The Swan of Tuonela from Lemminkäinen Suite
Edvard Grieg Peer Gynt: Suite no.2 op.55
Jean Sibelius Fifth symphony

In Sibelius' epic and heroic Fifth Symphony, Finland's vast and rugged natural beauty resounds. The adventures of Peer Gynt, the Norwegian Tijl Uilenspiegel, sound joyful, mysterious and a touch melancholy in Grieg's version.

Epic Nordic natural beauty

The music of composers from the north often echoes an epic Nordic natural beauty. The vast, rugged plains, jagged fjords, vast forests and clear lakes seem to have found their way into many compositions from Norway and Finland. This is certainly true of the music of Grieg and Sibelius, two of the North's most important composers.

Grieg and Sibelius

Edvard Grieg was a great champion of Norwegian art and culture. He composed music to Ibsen's play Peer Gynt. From it he made two suites, which are among Grieg's best-known music. For who does not know the exciting Abduction of the Bride, the joyful Arabian Dance, Peer Gynt's epic homecoming and the wonderful Solveig's Song? Jean Sibelius' music has both a poignant humanity and an overwhelming force of nature. This is certainly true of the Fifth Symphony, in which he uses his love of nature to compose away his depression. The symphony begins dramatically, but ends brilliantly and hopeful. The symphonic poem The Swan of Tuonela, with which this concert opens, is based on the majestic singing swan swimming in the river of the Kingdom of the Dead in the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic.