Sibelius, Jean - Lemminkäinen Suite; Spring Song; Suite from Belshazzar's Feast - Oramo, Sakari

Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo, who has been chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 2013, has a particularly close relationship with the music of his compatriot Sibelius, as this recording admirably demonstrates. Sibelius's ever-popular Lemminkäinen Suite is combined here with Spring Song and the lesser-known Belshazzar's Feast. Sibelius composed the Lemminkäinen Suite (also known as Four Legends from the Kalevala), Op. 22, in the 1890s. Originally conceived as a mythological opera, The Creation of the Boat, the series is based on Lemminkäinen from the Kalevala. Sibelius's music for Belshazzar's Feast was originally composed as incidental music (Hjalmar Procopé) in 1906. The work was first performed at the Swedish Theater in Helsinki in November of the same year, conducted by the composer. The following year, Sibelius selected four of the eight parts to form the more widely known orchestral suite heard on this recording.