The Sibelius Festival

Vintage Finland

This month the Seattle Symphony is featuring a special program called "Luminous Landscapes," including all seven symphonies written by the great Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius.  Yesterday we heard No. 3 and 4, plus the spectacular Violin Concerto in D minor.  The Sunday before, we went to a chamber music concert and heard a Sibelius string quartet, a piano quartet and a "sonatina" in the small hall at Benayoya. 

That might sound like a Nordic overload, but for classical music dilettantes (definition: a person who cultivates an area of interest, such as the arts, without real commitment or knowledge) it's educational being immersed in the work of one composer, rather than listening to dribs and drabs on my "Greatest Classical Melodies" CD collection.

Of course reading the Symphony program and a couple of articles doesn't turn a person into a Sibelius expert, but I think knowing more about the person gives better appreciation for the music. And Jean Sibelius had a long and interesting life (1856-1957) despite health scares and slew of bad habits.

Sibelius is considered a national treasure in Finland, and everyone of Finnish heritage in Seattle was at these concerts. I noticed some very well-behaved children in the audience.

This is a passage from the book "The Rest is Noise" by Alex Ross:  

Sibelius was not merely the most famous composer Finland ever produced but the country’s chief celebrity in any field. He played a symbolic but active role in the drive toward Finnish independence, which was finally achieved in 1917. When Finns are asked to characterize their culture, they invariably mention, along with such national treasures as the lakeside sauna, Fiskars scissors, and Nokia cell phones, “our Sibelius.” Mostly because of him, classical music has retained a central role in Finnish culture. 

The country’s government invests enormous sums in orchestras, opera houses, new-music programs, and music schools. The annual Finnish expenditure on the arts is roughly two hundred times per capita what the United States government spends through the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Sibelius Festival was sponsored by the Finlandia Foundation, Finlandia Vodka, and Bang & Olufsen, those high-end stereo people.  Perfect.