London Philharmonic Orchestra: The Tempest

Dvořák Piano Concerto
Sibelius The Tempest, Suites 1 & 2 (excerpts)

Osmo Vänskä conductor
Stephen Hough piano
Lilli Paasikivi mezzo soprano
Simon Callow narrator
London Philharmonic Orchestra

In celebration of the 150 years since the birth of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, perhaps his most significant living advocate Osmo Vänskä conducts some of the last music the composer wrote: Vänskä’s own narrated arrangement of excerpts from the orchestral suites for The Tempest, based on incidental music written in 1925 for a performance of the play in Copenhagen. This most ambitious of Sibelius’s theatre scores sees the composer exploring the tantalising new sonorities and techniques that might have come to fruition were it not for his famous creative block of three decades. All the magic and mystery of The Tempest is heard here after a rare performance by Stephen Hough of Dvořák’s compelling and virtuosic Piano Concerto.