BBC Philharmonic - An Evening of Finnish Wonder

John Storgårds conductor
Tobias Feldmann violin

Sibelius Pohjola’s Daughter
Sofia Gubaidulina  ‘In Tempus Praesens’ for violin and orchestra
Einojuhani Rautavaara Symphony No. 7, ‘Angel of Light’

From dusk till dawn, John Storgårds draws us through a programme of spirits and mystic realms. We start amongst the shadowy landscapes of Northern Europe in Sibelius’s tone poem, Pohjola’s Daughter – its rich orchestration and charming cast of melodies depicting the troublesome pursuits of the great hero Väinämöinen as he attempts to win the trust of the fabled daughter of the North. Then, abandoning the mortal realm, a bewitchingly intense journey from one extreme to another in Gubaidulina’s ‘In Tempus Praesens’, a violin concerto which sees Tobias Feldmann deliver us from the murk of Hell to the heights of Heaven. Finally, brightness and bliss in Rautavaara’s Seventh Symphony, ‘Angel of Light’, an auroral tapestry of his childhood memories, prized for its deep spirituality.