Going International: 1912-13

Donald Macleod looks at the impact Sibelius’s international travels and meetings with fellow composers had on his work and his outlook.

The 1910s were a crucial decade in Sibelius’s life. He would write some of his greatest works during these ten years, including his fourth and fifth symphonies and the beginnings of his sixth. Sibelius’s meditations on the symphony and its role in his creative life are a recurring theme in the week’s programmes. This period also reflects Sibelius’s life in microcosm, including his battles with alcohol and indebtedness; his need for the stimulus of foreign travel, and the periods of creative inertia, which would decisively return during his later years. We travel around the world with Sibelius, returning to Finland at the outbreak of the First World War, which would have a major impact on his life and work, not least with the Finnish Civil War of 1918 and Finland’s subsequent independence: these were formative events for Sibelius.

In this programme, Donald Macleod catches up with Sibelius on his fourth visit to Britain, hearing about his interactions with British composers such as Frederick Delius and Arnold Bax, who described Sibelius’s appearance as giving him “the notion that he had never laughed in his life, and never could.” We also hear about Sibelius’s later adventures in England too, as he caroused around London with Ferruccio Busoni, to the despair of Henry Wood.

Kallion kirkon kellosavel (The Bells of Kallio Church), Op. 65b
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
Heikki Seppanen, conductor

Two Serenades Op. 69
Pekka Kuusisto, violin
Tapiola Sinfonietta

Rakastava (The Lover), Op. 14
Tom Nyman, tenor
YL Male Voice Choir
Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä, conductor

Piano Sonatina in F sharp minor, Op. 67, No. 1
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano

Luonnotar (Daughter of Nature) Op. 70
Soile Isokoski, soprano
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Leif Segerstam, conductor

Barden (The Bard), Op. 64
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
John Storgårds, conductor