Schubelius: Symphonic Synergies at La Monnaie

Sibelius’ symphonic credo was ‘I admired the symphony’s severity of style and the profound logic that created an inner connection between all the motifs,’ and this was not so different from what Schubert had put into practice a century earlier. The classical theory of musical form dominated the symphonic approach of both composers, though very different worlds are brought to life in Schubert’s eight symphonies and the seven that Sibelius composed. The two together span almost the entire stylistic evolution of the genre : Schubert established the transition from the classical symphony to the romantic, while Sibelius went from high Romanticism, via Modernism, to Neoclassicism. Two worlds, one genre. Kazushi Ono brings them together in his three return appearances at the head of the Symphony Orchestra of La Monnaie, and also opens up new perspectives with the Sibelius’ most beautiful symphonic poems and the rarely performed cantata for chorus and orchestra Jordens sång.