London Philharmonic Orchestra

Folklore and legend
Vänskä conducts Sibelius

Sibelius The Bard
Sibelius Violin Concerto
Sibelius Lemminkäinen Suite (Four Legends of the Kalevala)

Osmo Vänskä: conductor
Alexandra Soumm: violin
London Philharmonic Orchestra

At the dawn of the 20th century, a wave of artistic activity swept through Finland in the hope that a creative awakening would lead to independence from Russia. Like many others, Jean Sibelius turned to the country’s folk poetry, creating four symphonic poems on the story of Lemminkäinen, a Don Juan-like figure from Finnish folklore who met with a savage death only for his dismembered body to be reassembled and revived by his mother. Osmo Vänskä, one of the greatest living exponents of Sibelius’s music, conducts works by his compatriot including the four Lemminkäinen ‘legends’ imbued with a sense of light and momentum, alongside the dark, melodic Violin Concerto.