With music of fire and ice, Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 blurs the boundaries of musical storytelling. Sibelius considered his radiant symphony to be “a great river flowing to the sea,” but generations of Finns have heard in its glorious conclusion their country’s quest for freedom from Russian rule. As Sibelius’ symphony journeys through moments of serenity, turmoil and triumph, what will you hear?
Vaughan-Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis opens the program, a tribute to sacred music of the English Renaissance teeming with mystery and mysticism. Then, the Dallas Symphony Chorus joins the Orchestra for Brahms’ Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny), which confronts suffering and despair with music of hope and consolation in a setting of Friedrich Hölderlin’s heaven-storming poem.