Proms 2015 Prom 40: Sibelius – Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2

Celebrations for Sibelius’s 150th anniversary continue with a complete symphony cycle, launched by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and its new Chief Conductor Designate, Thomas Dausgaard. The First Symphony is prefaced by the nationalistic tone-poem Finlandia, its singing central melody composed with an ear to mass appeal as well as to political protest. The First Symphony is no apprentice work; although drawing on the legacy of Tchaikovsky and Brahms, Sibelius created something distinctively and evocatively Nordic. Still more sophisticated is the Second, often heard as a musical shout of grief and rage at Russian oppression.