Saraste conducts Sibelius: Symphony No. 7

Sibelius's Seventh Symphony was his last and his shortest: a remarkable single-movement work woven together into an imposing, moving epic, and which started life as a symphonic fantasy – premiered in 1924 – before Sibelius gave it its official symphonic designation. It was the only one of Sibelius's symphonies not to be premiered by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and, as this performance as part of the orchestra's complete cycle under Jukka-Pekka Saraste shows, there is no orchestra to match them for an instinctive approach to the music of Finland's best-loved composer.

Ensemble: 

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

Conductor: 

Jukka-Pekka Saraste