Jukka-Pekka Saraste / Leonidas Kavakos

Sibelius’ music draws its colossal energy from the most primitive vital forces, in the harsh northern landscape exposed to the wild elements. This concert features two works, one written at the start and the other at the end of his short career (he stopped composing during the last thirty years of his life): Symphony No. 2 (1902), and the incidental music for Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1925), both striking examples of his music. His overture to The Tempest is one of the most terrifying and mysterious sea storms ever translated into music. Symphony No. 2 is more like a powerful magma cascading down the sides of a volcano and which, according to the steepness and obstacles encountered, slows or accelerates its course, spreads out in thick layers or explodes into a thousand incandescent pieces. A fascinating work. As a worthy representative of the famous Finnish school of conducting Jukka-Pekka Saraste knows this composer better than anyone. But we are looking forward just as impatiently to his performance with the Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos, one of the most sought-after today. Especially as they have chosen Brahms’ Violin Concerto, the “emperor” of all violin concertos.