Radio 3 in Concert: Sibelius the Storyteller (Part 3)

In Stories, Quests and Secret Sagas, Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in four vivid musical mini-epics, accompanied by readings from stories that inspired them. On top of a rainbow beyond the northern edge of the world sits Pohjola's daughter, her fingers weaving golden threads on a magic loom. Finnish mythology opened new worlds of creative possibility for Sibelius, but he was master of his own imagination, and the results are not always what might be expected. Heroic myths reveal their darker sides, poets weave quiet mysteries, and patriotic pageants suddenly break into irreverent laughter. Sakari Oramo understands this music like few living conductors, and the epic struggles of En Saga to the quiet enigma of The Bard acquire new dimensions when heard alongside the words that fired Sibelius's imagination - read by Olafur Darri Olafsson. Sibelius: All'Overtura from Scènes Historiques; En Saga; The Bard; Pohjola's Daughter; BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo (conductor), Olafur Darri Olafsson (narrator)