Thames Philharmonia Performs Sibelius And Rimsky-Korsakov

Thames Philharmonia perform: Jean Sibelius (1865–1957)

Finlandia

Sibelius completed Finlandia in 1900. Official Russian censors forced Sibelius to rename and secretly publish the work under titles like “Happy Feelings at the Awakening of Finnish Spring,” masking its nationalistic message. Despite this, audiences immediately recognized its emotional power, and it spread rapidly across Europe.

Symphony No. 4

The symphony was completed in 1911. According to Sibelius' biographer, the symphony reflects the psychoanalytical and introspective era when Sigmund Fruud stressed the meaning of the unconscious, and he calls the Fourth Symphony "one of the most remarkable documents of the psychoanalytical era" Even Sibelius himself called his composition "a psychological symphony".

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Symphony No. 2 in B-flat minor (“Antar”),

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was renowned for his vivid orchestration and nationalist spirit. He composed his Symphony No. 2 in 1868; drawing on an Arabian legend then extensively revised it in 1875 and again in 1891, ultimately retitling it the symphonic suite Antar.

The work, originally published as Symphony No. 2, was first performed in 1869. Audiences heard its four bold movements linked by an idée fixe that portrays the hero Antar’s adventures and inner turmoil.