Category Archives: Program notes

In the summer of 1914, after having returned from America, where he had conducted the world premiere of his tone poem The Oceanides, Op. 73 (1914) at the Norfolk Festival, Sibelius began to work on his Fifth Symphony. The first … Continue reading →

Composed: 2003–2004 Length: c. 25 minutes Orchestration: 2 piccolos (1st = flute; 2nd = flute, alto flute), 2 flutes, 3 oboes, English horn, E-flat clarinet, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, … Continue reading →

Composed: 1924 Length: c. 22 minutes Orchestration: 2 flutes (both = piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings “Have ’in my head’ Symphonies VI and VII. As well as the revision … Continue reading →

Sibelius composed in his lifetime 101 songs for solo voice and piano, practically all of them between 1888 and 1918. Only a few songs without opus number are of a later date. There are 14 opera with 2– 8 songs … Continue reading →

Composed: 1932 Length: c. 23 minutes Orchestration: 2 flutes (2nd = piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, snare drum), strings, and solo piano In his brilliant book Defining … Continue reading →

Composed: 1893–1895/1900/1939 Length: c. 50 minutes Orchestration: 2 flutes (2nd = piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd = English norn), 2 clarinets (2nd = bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, glockenspiel, snare … Continue reading →

Composed: 2002 Length: c. 6 minutes Orchestration: 2 flutes, 3 oboes, English horbn, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, and strings In a television documentary from 2001, Esa-Pekka Salonen looked back upon his study … Continue reading →

Composed: 1907 Length: c. 30 minutes Orchestration: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings If Sibelius’s first two symphonies may be broadly classified as belonging to ‘national romanticism,’ the Third … Continue reading →

Graal théâtre is a concerto for violin and orchestra, of which there are two versions. The BBC and a Dutch radio station co-commissioned the first version, and Saariaho wrote it for Guidon Kremer, who premiered it with the BBC Symphony … Continue reading →

There is a visual impression or a series of them behind many of Saariaho’s works. “Six Japanese Gardens is a collection of impressions of the gardens I saw in Kyoto during my stay in Japan in the summer of 1993 … Continue reading →