🎼 Jean Sibelius
– Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82
– Two Serenades, Op. 69
– Two Serious Melodies, Op. 77
– Swanwhite Suite, Op. 54
🎻 Violin: Christian Tetzlaff (tracks 4–7)
🎼 Orchestra: Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
🎼 Conductor: Nicholas Collon
🏢 Label: Ondine
📀 Released: 2025
🎧 Duration: approx. 76 minutes
📍 Recorded at: Helsinki Music Centre
🔗 Available on all major streaming platforms
By Damián Autorino
Editor at Moto Perpetuo
This new Sibelius album from the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Nicholas Collon places the Fifth Symphony at its center, along with three less frequently recorded works. Gramophone described the album as “outstanding,” highlighting the atmosphere of the Fifth and the clarity of its textures. The symphony — one of Sibelius’s most iconic pieces — went through several versions before reaching its final form in 1919. This performance was recorded in Helsinki in April 2024, while the rest of the album includes live recordings from 2022 and 2024.
The Two Serenades and Two Serious Melodies feature Christian Tetzlaff as soloist and show different sides of Sibelius’s writing for violin and orchestra. The Serenades, composed in 1912–13, are brief, lyrical pieces that combine elegance and melancholy. The Serious Melodies, written a few years later, are more introspective. They’re not showpieces, but rather short character studies with expressive depth — and Tetzlaff brings them to life with a warm, restrained tone.
The album ends with the seven-movement Swanwhite Suite, based on Sibelius’s incidental music for a fairy-tale play by August Strindberg. The score includes delicate textures, soft percussion, and even castanets — but also moments of unexpected emotional weight, like the bittersweet The Prince Alone or the closing Song of Praise. Some passages, like The Harp, seem to anticipate the sound world of Sibelius’s symphonies.
This is Collon’s second Sibelius album with the FRSO for Ondine, following their 2023 release of Symphony No. 7. The collaboration between conductor and orchestra has drawn international attention, and in 2025 the ensemble was nominated for Gramophone’s Orchestra of the Year — in part thanks to this recording.
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