Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 & Pohjola’s Daughter / Lutosławski: Concerto for Orchestra

Lutosławski, Witold, Sibelius, Jean

London Philharmonic Orchestra

LPO 0057

At first glance, Sibelius and Lutosławski may seem odd bedfellows on disc, but not in this instance. This disc couples the two works for which these composers are probably best remembered. Sibelius’ Symphony No.5 and Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra. Interestingly, Lutosławski, in admiration of Sibelius, travelled to Finland in May 1955 to meet the venerable composer at his own Sibelius Festival. ‘Sibelius’s music is characterised by constant switches of tempo but Saraste, conducting from memory, negotiated the gear changes with idiomatic empathy, steering his players confidently through the turbulent shoals of the start of the finale to the culminating oceanic currents.’ Barry Millington, Evening Standard, 16 October 2008. Since 2010 Jukka-Pekka Saraste has been Chief Conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne. He has also been Music Director of the Oslo Philharmonic since 2006. His discography includes the complete symphonies of Sibelius and Nielsen with the Finnish Radio Orchestra, as well as works by Bartók, Dutilleux, Mussorgsky and Prokofiev with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. His most recent recordings are Mahler Symphony No. 6 and DVD releases of Sibelius Symphonies Nos. 1 and 5 with the Oslo Philharmonic, as well as Mahler Symphony No. 9 with the WDR Symphony Orchestra.

CD

LPO

21.10.2011

854990001574