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Rewilding Sibelius

Tom Service explores the music of Sibelius as a force of nature with 'Wild' writer Jaye Griffiths.

Tom Service explores the music of Sibelius as a force of nature with 'Wild' writer Jaye Griffiths.

The inspiration for Sibelius's Fifth Symphony - the famous flight of sixteen majestic swans across the lake from his house north of Helsinki was, in the composer's words 'one of my greatest experiences. Lord God, that Beauty...' It's a well-known story, but in today's Listening Service Tom argues that Sibelius's music isn't just a prettified depiction of nature, it's a wilderness itself, with its own teeming, wild ecologies: from the pagan creationism of Luonnotar, to the primeval forest gods of Tapiola, and the elemental forces of the Oceanides.

With writer Jaye Griffiths on wilderness as freedom, listening to a woodlouse, devotion to absolute life, and silence as extinction.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Fri 18 Feb 2022 16:30

Music Played

  • Jean Sibelius

    Symphony no. 5 in E flat major Op.82

    Conductor: Paavo Berglund. Performer: Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • warner.
    • 9029586915.
  • Jean Sibelius

    The Oceanides Op.73

    Conductor: Osmo V盲nsk盲. Performer: Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
    • BIS.
    • CD1225.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Luonnotar Op.70 for soprano and orchestra

    Conductor: Sakari Oramo. Performer: Karita Mattila. Performer: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
    • WARNER.
    • 8573 80243-2.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Tapiola - tone poem Op.112

    Conductor: Osmo V盲nsk盲. Performer: Lahti S O.
    • BIS.
    • CD864.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Symphony no. 7 in C major Op.105

    Conductor: Osmo V盲nsk盲. Performer: Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
    • BIS.
    • CD1286/1288.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 15 Nov 2020 17:00
  • Fri 20 Nov 2020 16:30
  • Fri 18 Feb 2022 16:30

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