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Logo Concertgebouw Brugge

Masterpiece week Sibelius

Masterpiece week Sibelius

Symfonie nr. 5

  • by the time he wrote his Fifth Symphony, Sibelius had attained demigod status
  • four years after it was first composed, Sibelius perfected the final version and premiered it with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Sibelius was the first Finnish composer to give musical expression to the smouldering nationalism in his country
  • Sibelius’s orchestral works – often inspired by the Kalevala, the Finnish national folk epic – were soon regarded as the perfect soundtrack to the scenic beauty of Scandinavia
  • according to some, Sibelius’s Fifth has the most impressive finale ever composed
  • pop and jazz musicians, such as Gorillaz and John Coltrane, borrowed from Sibelius’s Fifth