Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä - Finland Awakes: Patriotic Music by Jean Sibelius (2000)

As well known as the music itself is, the full background to Finlandia, the great symphonic poem composed by Finn Jean Sibelius, was unfamiliar to me until very recently.

It turns out that Finlandia was originally part of a larger work that Sibelius composed in 1899 with the rather unartistic title "Press Celebrations Music". The seventh movement of that work, "Tableau 6, Suomi herää (Finland Awakes)", was later reworked into a stand-alone piece and became known as Finlandia, and this is how we have generally heard it performed since that time. It has become recognized as one of the most important national songs of Finland, but it is not the national anthem, that is Maamme ("Our Land").

In fact, the full original Press Celebrations Music was not released during Sibelius's lifetime. That suite of music, in seven movements, lay largely untouched until almost 100 years had passed. It was finally reconstructed and recorded, first in 1998 by conductor Tuomas Ollila conducting the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra (see link below), then in 2000 by Osmo Vänskä conducting the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. It is that latter performance that is captured on this CD, the full "Press Celebrations Music" together with four other choral works.

I came to this music only recently, having been unaware until that time that Finlandia can be performed in both orchestral versions, and in a version with choral accompaniment. When I sought out suitable performances of that choral interpretation, I also came across this recording and purchased it as well (and I was disappointed to then discover that the performance of Finlandia recorded here, in two versions in fact, does not include chorus, but that did not detract from my enjoyment of this disc once I had it!)

Given this rather obscure background, and the fact that this recording sticks to the original descriptions of the music and therefore does not include the description 'Finlandia' anywhere on the CD front or rear texts, this CD may not be something that most fans of Sibelius's music will run across or think to try. And that would be a shame, because the music here is excellent and enjoyable even without considering it's historical significance. In my view this music is just as fine and compelling as any that Sibelius wrote. All performances are with Osmo Vänskä conducting the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, joined by the Helsinki University Chorus for tracks 9 through 12, and with the Lahti Boys' Choir also joining for track 12 "Song of the Athenians". Vänskä has played a prominent role in recordings of the works of Sibelius in recent years, receiving much praise, and the performances here are excellent.

This CD issue by BIS includes liner notes with a very informative essay written by Andrew Barnett, founder of the UK Sibelius Society and authority on Sibelius, who has worked closely with BIS in their production of a complete edition of Sibelius's music, and has also authored the most recent biography of Sibelius, available here on Amazon: Sibelius .

And as mentioned, BIS has now produced a complete recorded edition of Sibelius's music. This CD is designated (on its cover) as disc 49 in that series, however I believe that the particular collection of works presented on this CD is different from how they have been packaged in the volumes released by BIS as their Sibelius Edition (see for example Sibelius Edition 1: Tone Poems ). This is another reason for obtaining this particular CD, in that it includes, as far as I know, a unique grouping of pieces.

In summary I would therefore say that this is well worthwhile, both for the Sibelius collector as well as the interested listener who has enjoyed the music of Sibelius and is looking to dig deeper.