Paavo Berglund, a Finnish conductor renowned for his commanding interpretations of Sibelius's symphonies and tone poems, died on Jan. 25 at his home in Helsinki. He was 82. The apparent cause was pneumonia, said his daughter, Liisa Kylmanen, who noted that he had been in poor health for some time. Mr. Berglund was a conductor of the old,...
The turn of the 20th century was a difficult time to be a lesser Finnish composer: Sibelius pretty much sucked the air out of the room. But other composers did exist, even if they have faded to posterity, and they creep into concerts now and then. Intriguing music from some of those largely forgotten figures was programmed this summer at the Bard...
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Colin Davis said that what he strives for in conducting is to share a performance, not to impose one on the orchestra. ''It's about giving players the freedom to concentrate on what matters, which isn't me with the baton,'' he said. ''I'm of no account. It's the music.'' Those may sound like...
Jean Sibelius (8. december 1865 – 20. september 1957) er Finlands nationalkomponist. Han hører også internationalt til de mest anerkendte komponister fra perioden omkring 1900, og han hører med Carl Nielsen (Danmark), Edvard Grieg (Norge) og Bedřich Smetana (Tjekkiet) til nationalromantikere. Sibelius blev født, da Finland var russisk. Hans musik har spillet en vigtig rolle i dannelsen af en national finsk identitet. Finlands store musikkonservatorium, Sibelius-akademiet, et af de største i Europa blev i 1939 opkaldt efter Sibelius, der havde fået sin uddannelse der.
Han er mest kendt for violinkoncerten, de syv symfonier, tonedigte og mange korværker.