Sibelius: a life in 10 masterpieces<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>A choice early example of Sibelius\u2019s gift for popular-touch orchestral music was Karelia<\/em>, celebrating the history and culture of the region then in eastern Finland (now part of the Russian Federation). Susanna M\u00e4lkki\u2019s thoughtful approach to this three-movement suite likeably brings out the music\u2019s deeper side, for instance in the central \u2018Ballade\u2019, without in any way inflating it. <\/p>The results are equally fine in Lemmink\u00e4inen\u2019s<\/em> four-movement portrait of the life and exploits (mostly romantic) of the Finnish folk-hero. There are moments when Sibelius\u2019s flair for atmosphere isn\u2019t conveyed: the wonderful scene-setting at the start of the suite\u2019s opening movement, \u2018Lemmink\u00e4inen and the Maidens of the Island\u2019, doesn\u2019t come across as it could.\u2019 And while the suite Rakastava<\/em> is finely played by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra\u2019s string section, the rather forthright result misses the music\u2019s whispered\u00a0tenderness.<\/p>But there are major strengths here too. M\u00e4lkki and the orchestra remarkably conjure the dark, swirling soundworld of \u2018Lemmink\u00e4inen in Tuonela\u2019 (the Hades of Finnish legend). And the concluding \u2018Lemmink\u00e4inen\u2019s Return\u2019 canters along in roistering style. <\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Malcolm Hayes Published: Thursday, 29 February 2024 at 19:09 PM Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra\/ Susanna M\u00e4lkki BIS BIS-2638\u00a0\u00a0 78:38 mins One of the sadnesses in today\u2019s classical concert scene is how little the shorter orchestral works of so many composers are performed. Sibelius\u2019s \u2018The Swan of Tuonela\u2019, from his suite Lemmink\u00e4inen, used to feature regularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":39582,"template":"","categories":[1,79,19],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/sibelius-karelia-suite-rakastava-lemminkainen.jpg",600,600,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/sibelius-karelia-suite-rakastava-lemminkainen-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/sibelius-karelia-suite-rakastava-lemminkainen-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/sibelius-karelia-suite-rakastava-lemminkainen.jpg",600,600,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/sibelius-karelia-suite-rakastava-lemminkainen.jpg",600,600,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/sibelius-karelia-suite-rakastava-lemminkainen.jpg",600,600,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/02\/sibelius-karelia-suite-rakastava-lemminkainen.jpg",600,600,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Malcolm Hayes Published: Thursday, 29 February 2024 at 19:09 PM Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra\/ Susanna M\u00e4lkki BIS BIS-2638\u00a0\u00a0 78:38 mins One of the sadnesses in today\u2019s classical concert scene is how little the shorter orchestral works of so many composers are performed. Sibelius\u2019s \u2018The Swan of Tuonela\u2019, from his suite Lemmink\u00e4inen, used to feature regularly…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/39581"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}