There's a word in the Finnish language called "sisu." It's hard to translate, but it means a sort of grim determination, having the strength to face adversity head-on without giving up. People who know the Finnish culture say that one word, sisu, pretty much sums it all up. In today's show, music by a Finn with a whole lot of sisu, Jean Sibelius. We'll hear his dark, brooding tone poem Tapiola, about the mysterious forests in the far north of Finland.
Episode Playlist
Hour 1
Jean Sibelius: Two movements from Suite Mignonne, Op. 98a
Gerard Schaub and Kenneth Wihlborg flutes, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi, conductor
Ottorino Respighi: Pines of the Appian Way, from the Pines of Rome
The United States Army Field Band, the Dallas Wind Symphony, Jerry Junkin, conductor
Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas
Johann Sebastian Bach: Sinfonias Nos. 1-5, BWV 787-791
Angela Hewitt, piano
Spring for Music, New York City
Maurice Ravel: Tzigane, Concert Rhapsody for Violin and Piano
Augustin Hadelich, violin, Jeewon Park, piano
Benaroya Hall, Seattle
Jean Sibelius: Tapiola, Op. 112
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Hour 2
Ernest Bloch: Second movement from Symphony in E-flat
The Malmo Symphony Orchestra, Andrey Boreyko, conductor
William Bolcom: Graceful Ghost
Clara-Jumi Kang, violin, Yeol Eum Son, piano
Great Mountains International Music Festival, Pyongchang, South Korea
Georg Philipp Telemann: Gulliver's Suite, for Two Violins
Livia Sohn and Geoff Nuttall, violins
Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston, South Carolina
Josquin des Prez: Lament on the Death of Jean Ockeghem
Ensemble Clement Janequin, Dominique Visse, director
Boston Early Music Festival, Boston
Ernest Bloch: Concerto Grosso for String Orchestra with Piano Obbligato
Miles Graber, piano, the New Century Chamber Orchestra, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin and leader
First United Methodist Church, Palo Alto, California
George Gershwin: Bess, You is my Woman Now, from Porgy and Bess
The New Century Chamber Orchestra, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin and leader
Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, California
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