Sibelius: Symphony No. 2, King Christian II Gothenburg Symphony & Santtu-Matias Rouvali

• Jean Sibelius (1865 - 1957): Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43:
• 1 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43: I. Allegretto - Poco allegro 09:56
• 2 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43: II. Tempo andante, ma rubato 14:27
• 3 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43: III. Vivacissimo 06:10
• 4 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43: IV. Allegro moderato 14:56
• King Christian II (Suite), Op. 27:
• 5 King Christian II (Suite), Op. 27: I. Nocturne 07:00
• 6 King Christian II (Suite), Op. 27: II. Élégie 05:15
• 7 King Christian II (Suite), Op. 27: III. Musette 02:11
• 8 King Christian II (Suite), Op. 27: IV. Sérénade 04:57
• 9 King Christian II (Suite), Op. 27: V. Ballade 05:49
• Total Runtime 01:10:41

Info for Sibelius: Symphony No. 2, King Christian II

After the resounding success of Volume 1 (Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, Diapason d’Or, Choc de Classica, FFFF Télérama), the project to record the complete Sibelius symphonies continues with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and Santtu-Matias Rouvali, whose career as a conductor is entering top gear: he has just been appointed Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. At the turn of the twentieth century, as Finland struggled to free itself from Russian rule, Sibelius and his wife faced several domestic dramas, including the loss of one of their daughters, Kirsti, to typhoid fever. The Second Symphony, written in the brilliant key of D major, seems to be marked by the events of the composer’s private life, but many of his contemporaries nevertheless saw it as a political manifesto! In 1898, Sibelius composed the incidental music for Adolf Paul’s play King Christian II, the story of the downfall of a king of Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden and Norway) in the sixteenth century. The suite derived from it was successfully performed in several European cities.

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra
Santtu-Matias Rouvali, conductor

Santtu-Matias Rouvali
Hailed by The Guardian as ​“the latest sit-up-and-listen talent to emerge from the great Finnish conducting tradition,” the 2018/19 season will see Santtu-Matias Rouvali continuing his positions as Chief Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony and Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, alongside his longstanding Chief Conductor-ship with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra close to his home in Finland.

Rouvali has regular relationships with several orchestras across Europe, including the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. As well as making his debut with the Münchner Philharmoniker this season, he also returns to North America for concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Following a very successful Nordic tour with Hélène Grimaud last season, the Gothenburg Symphony is back on the road in February 2019 for a tour hitting major centres in Germany and Austria with pianist Alice Sara Ott, and percussionist Martin Grubinger who premieres a new percussion concert by Daníel Bjarnason. Rouvali looks forward to other ambitious touring projects with his orchestras in the future, including appearances in North America and Japan.

In addition to the extensive tour, Rouvali’s season in Gothenburg opens with Strauss’ Alpine Symphony accompanied by Víkingur Ólafsson Mozart Piano Concerto No.24, and he looks forward to collaborations with Janine Jansen, Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Baiba Skride throughout the rest of the season.

As another cornerstone to his tenure in Gothenburg, he is adding his mark to the Orchestra’s impressive recording legacy. In partnership with Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and violinist Baiba Skride, a recording featuring concertos from Bernstein, Korngold and Rozsa is released in autumn 2018.This continues his great collaboration with Baiba Skride following their hugely successful recording of Nielsen and Sibelius’ violin concertos with the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra in summer 2015.

Rouvali has been Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra since 2013. Highlights of the tenure so far include a Sibelius symphony cycle in autumn 2015, and the Orchestra’s first tour to Japan in spring 2017 where they were accompanied by an exhibition of original Moomin drawings by Tove Jansson to mark the opening of the new museum at the Tampere Hall. He opens the 2018/19 season with a Beethoven programme with pianist Javier Perianes.

Alongside an extremely busy symphonic conducting career, as Chief Conductor in Tampere he has conducted Verdi’s La forza del destino and most recently world premiere of Olli Kortekangas’s My Brother’s Keeper (Veljeni vartija) with Tampere Opera in spring 2018.

Booklet for Sibelius: Symphony No. 2, King Christian II