Ava Bahari, the violinist on this recording, is Artist in Residence at the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra from 2024 to 2026 and plays a 1694 Stradivarius Ovcharov.
Compositional Technique
The Lemminkäinen Suite reuses material from Sibelius's abandoned opera The Building of the Boat, also based on The Kalevala, which he felt was too 'un-operatic'.
Composition History
The Lemminkäinen Suite is based on stories from The Kalevala, Finland's epic verse collection, which Sibelius chose to set for orchestra alone due to political difficulties with language in Finland.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Sibelius's great achievement was reimagining musical structure and grammar along distinctly Finnish lines, as demonstrated in the outer movements of the Lemminkäinen Legends.
Recording & Production
Santtu-Matias Rouvali, the conductor, has a five-volume Sibelius recording series with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra for Alpha Classics, which has received several awards.
Composition History
Sibelius's Violin Concerto was conceived as a surrogate for his lost career as a violinist, with the first movement reflecting a 'broken-hearted, thwarted violinist'.
Composer Biography
Jean Sibelius, the composer, initially dreamed of becoming a virtuoso violin soloist, a dream that remained unfulfilled and haunted him for decades.
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