Peer Gynt

Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra

‘Music begins where the possibilities of language end,’ said Jean Sibelius, and Edvard Grieg agreed: ‘Words sometimes need music, but music needs nothing.’ Each of these composers used musical means to create a national art that is permeated with the soul of his own people, but that in artistic terms transcends the boundaries of his own country. Just as Finlandia by Sibelius has become the unofficial national anthem of Finland and his Violin Concerto perhaps the country’s greatest international showpiece, Grieg’s music for Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt is the one work that perfectly portrays the Norwegian soul – and this music for the stage comprises a great deal more than just the well-known pieces from the two Peer Gynt suites. In this programme, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra pays tribute to the music of the Far North. ‘Det Beste Fra Scandinavia’?

PROGRAMME

• Jean Sibelius Finlandia, op.26 (1900)
• Jean Sibelius Violin Concerto in d minor, op.47 (1903-1904)
• Edvard Grieg Peer Gynt, incidental music (excerpts), op.23 (1874-1875)