Sibelius: Scenes Historiques I and Ii / King Christian Ii Suite

Featuring

Pietari Inkinen
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Jean Sibelius

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Performer Biography

Pietari Inkinen, the conductor on this album, is also an accomplished violinist and has performed the Sibelius Concerto with leading Finnish orchestras.

Composition History

The last piece from the first set of Scènes historiques, originally part of a patriotic pageant, was later separately published under the title Finlandia and gained lasting popularity.

Composer Biography

Sibelius received a government stipend, later a pension for life, after being passed over for a professorship at the University of Helsinki.

Historical Context

The first set of Sibelius's Scènes historiques was written as music for patriotic tableaux in 1899, during a period of heightened Finnish nationalism and Russian oppression.

Instruments

Pietari Inkinen, the conductor, plays a Carlo Bergonzi violin from around 1732, which is owned by the Gyllenberg Foundation.

Composer Biography

Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer, initially aimed to be a violinist but his compositional gifts proved stronger.

Composer Biography

After completing his seventh symphony in 1924, and an eighth in 1929 which he destroyed, Sibelius wrote no more music for the last 25 years of his life.