Jean Sibelius, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan – Finlandia · Valse Triste · Der Schwan Von Tuonela • Tapiola (E/E) – LP, NZ 1967

Finlandia · Valse Triste · Der Schwan Von Tuonela • Tapiola is an LP by Herbert von Karajan, Berliner Philharmoniker, Jean Sibelius from 1967 released on the Deutsche Grammophon label.

About this album

Karajan and the Berliner Philharmoniker give Sibelius’s orchestral miniatures striking scale and clarity. This 1967 stereo album brings together Finlandia, Valse triste, The Swan of Tuonela and Tapiola, works that helped define Sibelius’s reputation beyond Finland as a master of tone poem and orchestral colour. Karajan’s polished, highly controlled readings sharpen the drama while underlining the music’s brooding atmospherics and noble sweep. Heard together, these pieces show why Sibelius became one of the key late-Romantic voices of the 20th century and why Finlandia in particular remains one of the best-known patriotic concert works.