This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius (1865-1957), known as ''Finland's national composer''.
The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (conductor Hannu Lintu) performs this pair of works full of symbolism of misty moods and northern romanticism for which the composer is noted.
Lemminkainen Legends (1895) is a large (47min) and fascinating four-movement, near-symphonic work based on the Finnish Kalevala, the 19th-century mythological epic poem which has now been translated into 48 languages.
The music includes, as its second movement, The Swan of Tuonela (one of Sibelius' most popular compositions after Finlandia, En Saga, and other tone poems, plus seven symphonies).
Inspired by the Wagner operas, Sibelius had planned to write the first opera with Finnish text but abandoned that project and successfully transformed his musical ideas into Lemminkainen, an overture that ended up as the famous slow movement.
It is preceded by a frolicking to passionate 15 minutes of ''Lemminkainen and the maidens on the island'' followed by two final movements depicting the hero in Tuonela, and then his return home.
Pohjola's Daughter (1906), also based on the Kalevala stories of the nation, is among the composer's final orchestral pieces and illustrates (another hero) Vainamoinen's futile attempts to win the maiden for himself.
A shorter work, it shows Sibelius using some of his boldest and most dramatic scoring as he moved from national romanticism to a more classical idiom.
The orchestra is excellent in unison and in its sectional displays.
The ''super audio'' and ''direct stream digital'' recording (with surround sound) is clear and well-defined, although not quite as spectacular as expected.
Highlight: Soulful Sibelius well worth hearing.
