The Icy North ?

Maybe it's just me but I get the impression the music of Sibelius has fallen a little out of fashion in the concert hall, certainly when compared to that of Mahler and Shostakovich. This disk is a vintage 1950s recording by the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Hans Rosbaud and it features music other than his symphonies, including perhaps his best known works. The pieces are Finlandia, Valse Triste, The Swan of Tuonela, Festivo, The Karelia Suite and Tapiola. There are plenty of well known melodies amongst these, some of which are among my first childhood memories of any classical music because of their use as themes for tv series ( the famous Karelia march was used for a flagship UK current affairs show ) and also as almost light music before rock blasted apart sections of the BBC. There is of course, the connection of Sibelius with Finnish nationalism and landscape. Certainly the political cause and Finnish folklore inspired him, although I feel the symphonies sometimes show more of the icy feel of the north than do these tone poems. This mono recording is a bit rough around the ages but the playing is full of committment.