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From the outset of his career, Jean Sibelius was recognised as an outstanding representative of a musical language perceived as typically Finnish. He is considered the Nordic composer, in whose works the never-ending expanses of the Inchland of a thousand lakesInch are reflected. In Finland, as a result of many years of foreign rule, the dawn of the 20th century saw a veritable outbreak of nationally inspired artistic activities., It was a time of cultural and national self-discovery for Sibelius, too. He allowed himself be stimulated by the whole of Finland's folklore tradition, without resorting to specific examples of folksong InchThere is a prevalent false opinion that many of my themes are folk melodies. But up to now I have never utilised a theme that was not of my own invention.Inch Not until the age of 34 did Sibelius venture onto the slippery surface of symphonic composition; his symphonies are interpreted as musical expressions of the austere, inscrutable Nordic landscape, constructed as expansive fantasies. For many years, Carl Nielsen was viewed outside his native Denmark as the poor cousin of his more famous Scandinavian counterparts, Grieg and Sibelius. Yet his achievements as Denmark's greatest symphonist of the 20th century were, if anything, even more remarkable than the successes of his geographical neighbours. Nielsen's symphonic output is some of the most remarkable of it's time. Although he was trained at the Copenhagen Conservatoire in the strict tradition of the Viennese Classicists, he ultimately rejected the philosophies and styles that consumed so many of his contemporaries. The Norwegian conductor and composer Johann Svendsen was born in 1840 in Christiania (now Oslo). At the age of 21 Svendsen set out to tour Sweden and North Germany as a violinist, and the Swedish-Norwegian consul was impressed enough by Svendsen's playing to arrange a sc
