Composer: Jean Sibelius
Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Santtu-Matias Rouvali
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Alpha
Release: 2020
Size: 1.15 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43
01. I. Allegretto – Poco allegro
02. II. Tempo andante, ma rubato
03. III. Vivacissimo
04. IV. Allegro moderato
King Kristian II, incidental music, Op. 27
05. I. Nocturne
06. II. Élégie
07. III. Musette
08. IV. Sérénade
09. V. Ballade
After the resounding success of Volume 1 (Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Diapason d’Or, Choc de Classica, FFFF Télérama), the project to record the complete Sibelius symphonies continues with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Santtu-Matias Rouvali, whose career as a conductor is entering top gear: he has just been appointed Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London.
At the turn of the twentieth century, as Finland struggled to free itself from Russian rule, Sibelius and his wife faced several domestic dramas, including the loss of one of their daughters, Kirsti, to typhoid fever. The Second Symphony, written in the brilliant key of D major, seems to be marked by the events of the composer’s private life, but many of his contemporaries nevertheless saw it as a political manifesto! In 1898, Sibelius composed the incidental music for Adolf Paul’s play King Christian II, the story of the downfall of a king of Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden and Norway) in the sixteenth century. The suite derived from it was successfully performed in several European cities.