Jean Sibelius Finlandia (1899)
At a time when the Russian Empire sought to abolish Finland’s autonomy, Sibelius became a towering figure for the nation’s identity. And Finlandia is certainly a political work, composed for the press day celebrations of 1899 – a covert protest against increasing censorship from the Russian Empire. But, as the last of seven pieces performed as an accompaniment to a tableau of scenes from Finnish history, it actually describes Finland’s first railway — you can even hear the steam train rhythm! For me, this makes the piece more endearing – it adds humour to the passion of a young composer.
Ernst Mielck Symphony in F minor (1896-7)
Born 12 years after Sibelius, Mielck was a precocious musician. And his ‘Fairytale Symphony’, which I recorded with the Finnish Radio Symphony 30 years ago, is, in my opinion, a better debut symphony than Sibelius’s First. An epic work in the German Romantic tradition, its colours transport the listener to a world of ancient forests. Had Mielck not died tragically at 22, he might have sat alongside Sibelius as a co-symbol of Finnish identity.
Leevi Madetoja Symphony No. 3 (1926)
Ten years Mielck’s junior, Madetoja was a composer with big psychological problems, who wrote interesting music. In his earlier works, he fished in the same musical waters as Sibelius. Later, he went down a neoclassical route, and Symphony No. 3 is where he breaks the Sibelian mode, capturing the ‘pale light’ you might see in the northern French countryside – cloudy but open and beautiful. He also experiments with rhythm, incorporating a combination of dances into the finale. It makes for a crazy-sounding concoction, which was radical for its time.
Aarre Merikanto Juha (1922)
Aarre Merikanto was a rebel who broke tonality before the era of radio or Schoenberg recordings. His opera Juha, based on Juhani Aho’s novel, tells of a Russian merchant seducing a Finnish farmer’s wife and luring her to a harem in Russia. The work is brutal yet colourful, and has some resemblance to Janáček, which is fascinating given that Janáček’s most significant works were yet to be written. Deemed too radical, it remained unperformed until the 1960s, reflecting the closed, restrained atmosphere of interwar Finland. It is a masterpiece.
Helvi Leiviskä Sinfonia Brevis (1962)
I met Helvi Leiviskä when I was very young, as she was the librarian at the Sibelius Academy where I studied. Twenty years Merikanto’s junior, she initially wrote in a post-Romantic style – an example is her Violin Sonata, which my pianist mother and violinist uncle played together. Later, she broke from tonality to write some fascinating music, not least the Sinfonia Brevis, a 12-minute, austere work reminiscent of Hindemith. It ends with a triple fugue, and the way she uses counterpoint to build a sense of momentum towards the huge ending is incredibly intricate and interesting.
Erik Bergman Bardo Thödol (1974)
Erik Bergman was a good friend of my mother, and composed piano pieces for her. Among the first composers in Finland to step out of Sibelius’s shadow, Bergman was drawn to dodecaphony, and the music of Tibet and Japan. Bardo Thödol is a perfect example. A setting of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, it is sombre, yet pointillistic, organised in little snippets. So, you can see that Bergman was an extraordinary character, the composer who finally opened Finland’s windows to the sounds of the world.
Joonas Kokkonen The Last Temptations (1975)
Joonas Kokkonen was a dominant force in Finnish music after Sibelius – a patriarchal figure who was deeply involved in committees and fund-granting panels. The Last Temptations, centered on a 19th-century preacher’s mental turmoil, is one of Finland’s most significant operas. Kokkonen masterfully steps inside the protagonist’s head, weaving his hallucinations into the musical texture with effective spareness, unlike some modern operas that feel overwhelming and cluttered. The music is beautifully transparent.
Who is Sakari Oramo?
Born in Helsinki, Sakari Oramo rose to prominence as concertmaster of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He later moved to the podium, making his international breakthrough as a conductor in 1998, when he succeeded Simon Rattle at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Since 2013, he has been chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, balancing core, contemporary and neglected repertoire with a commitment to his Nordic roots. At this year’ s BBC Proms, he conducts music by Sibelius, Mahler and Dvořák – and will lead the Last Night celebrations.
