Sibelius and the Mystique of Kalevala

Kristian Sallinen conducts the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra in a programme exploring the world of the Finnish epic Kalevala - a realm of shamans, heroic sagas, and enchanted nature.

Jean Sibelius composed the Four Legends of Lemminkäinen between 1893 and 1895, originally conceived as material for an opera. Three of the movements follow the red-haired, sorcerous hero Lemminkäinen through his adventures, while the celebrated Swan of Tuonela circles around the mystical swan that swims around the island of the dead. The tone poem Tapiola (1926) - Sibelius's final major orchestral work - is a modernist piece named after Tapio, the forest god, a study of nature's dark and untamed forces. Sibelius left the message as a riddle, a gesture toward nature's unreachability.

Leevi Madetoja (1887-1947) was, alongside his teacher Sibelius, a key figure in Finnish late Romanticism. His tone poem Kullervo tells the story of an antihero of the same name: sold into slavery as a child, seduced by the witch Pohjan's daughter, and ultimately driven to throw himself upon his own sword after a series of fateful bloodshed. The concert opens with Thea Musgrave's The Song of the Enchanter, the composer's own tribute to Sibelius.

Programme:
Leevi Madetoja - Kullervo, symphonic poem (approx. 14 min)
Thea Musgrave - Song of the Enchanter (approx. 6 min)
Jean Sibelius - Tapiola (approx. 19 min)
Intermission 25 minutes
Jean Sibelius - Lemminkäinen and Four Legends (approx. 48 min)