SIbelius

“Could a certain distance from Western symphonic thought have contributed to the surprising qualities of the performances I heard in China?” Andrew Mellor reviews performances of Sibelius’s Symphonies Nos 2 and 5 in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Jean Sibelius was a political person throughout his life, although this should be understood in the right way. He was never a member of any political party, nor did he participate in any such activities. He was politically active in a different way.

"Kullervo is a five-movement composition which depicts the main events from the (Kalevala) hero's life. The depiction is so vivid and so completely Finnish that at every point the work overflows with the grave and melancholy spirit of old Finland. We must marvel at the fact that Mr Sibelius has kept to the same very Finnish style from beginning to end of his work. "