Jean Sibelius

Lemminkainen in Tuonela op. 22 Nr. 3

Viewed closely, Lemminkäinen op. 22 could well be called the 'zeroth' Sibelius symphony, for the early versions of these four tone poems date back to 1895/96, i.e. to the time before the 1st symphony. However, the self-contained musical narrative was not really completed until 1954, when all four pieces appeared together in print. Before that, Sibelius had only had two of the pieces printed; the other two had been waiting in a drawer for their big moment for 40 years. Today we know: The wait was worth it. Lemminkäinen takes us into Finnish mythology, spreads out before us the vastness of the Finnish landscape, tells the adventures of Lemminkäinen and his eventual happy return home to his mother.