Sibelius Karelia Suite

Grieg Peer Gynt Suite No. 1

Sibelius Symphony No. 1

We look north with our programme of music by Scandinavian composers.  Sibelius wrote his early Karelia Suite, with its jaunty marches and folksongs, for a Finnish patriotic pageant.  In Grieg’s varied and colourful incidental music for Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt, the scene ranges from the mountains of Norway to the deserts of Arabia. The Suite No. 1 includes some of Grieg’s most well-known music, from the peaceful Morning Mood to the ever-popular Hall of the Mountain King.  The dramatic and tempestuous Symphony No. 1 by Sibelius brings us exquisite moments of loneliness and melancholy, together with sweeping romantic melodies – a truly epic start to his distinctive symphonic writing.