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When pianist Glenn Gould created a pioneering radio documentary on The Idea of North<\/em>, the music he chose to embody this was Sibelius \u2013 naturally. Few composers conjure up such immediate images: chill clear air, glittering snowfields, foggy autumnal marshes, the fresh radiance of the swift Northern spring.<\/strong><\/p> His memorial in Helsinki broods appropriately over a granite outcrop among rolling seaside birch-woods. Saying his music captured such archetypal northern landscapes sounds like a clich\u00e9; yet even serious commentators talk of his \u2018cool Northern colours\u2019 and evocation of nature.<\/p> Those who know Finland would agree. Take its peculiarly potent dawn and evening light, luminous bands of red, gold and grey across the horizon \u2013 in the finale of Night-Ride and Sunrise<\/em> these colours seem to blaze out of chilly grey infinities of shadow.<\/p>What does Sibelius sound like?<\/h2>