Sibelius helped to define Finland's national identity and founded a rich musical culture.
Horrifying as it may seem, there are young people around today who think that Sibelius is just a computer program used for musical annotation. They have not heard of the great Finnish composer, whose work features in the Sibelius and Beyond festival running in London until December. In fact, there is no connection between the two, except that the British inventors of the first are brothers by the name of Finn.
There are two purposes behind Sibelius and Beyond. One is to mark 50 years since the composer died of a stroke at the age of 91 at Ainola, his beautiful wooden villa outside Helsinki now the Sibelius Museum. The other is to show off his legacy in the huge number of his compatriots who have now become musicians.
Finland today has as many world-class composers, conductors, instrumentalists and singers as we have big red buses. One of the best-known is Esa-Pekka Salonen, who writes music and conducts it. He is bringing his orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, to London for a residency at the Barbican Centre at the beginning of November. They will play every one of Sibelius's seven symphonies, as well as other large works, including Wing on Wing, by Salonen himself, for two sopranos and orchestra.
The symphonies open with Sibelius's Second (1901-1902), which, with its big-hearted tunes, seemed to hymn Finland towards independence in 1917. So, too, the First (1899), which the composer sold cheaply for patriotic reasons. Later he regretted this. "God didn't put me on earth to pay debts!" he railed. Admittedly, he drank much of what he earned. The Third (1907) was an acquired taste, and the introspective Fourth (1910-11) was a disaster at its premiere: no one noticed that it had ended. The Fifth (1915-19) achieved instant popularity with its shivering finale that punched the air for the birth of the nation. The Sixth (1923) was all nature and light, his aurora borealis. The Seventh (1924) was a model of unity and concision, four movements in one.
In a terrible fit of self-criticism, Sibelius later burned an Eighth Symphony in Ainola's huge green-tiled stove, which strikes visitors with its vibrant, almost overbearing colour. The composer possessed "colour-hearing", or synaes thesia, by which one sense is stimulated by the experience of another. Green was F major, a key that he avoided. Mrs Sibelius made a poignant note in her diary: "There was a big bonfire here today but I stayed in another room."
Sibelius had the gift of writing melodies that sounded like folksong born among the ancient forests and lakes that glint in the sun as one descends by plane towards his native land. His sweeping themes have the smoky essence of a saga told around a campfire; his instruments cry out like the cranes and wild geese whose keening spontaneity he said he aimed to imitate. He defined Finnishness and the Finns. His tone poem Finlandia was a global hit, its moving central theme sung as an unofficial national anthem and included in hymn books. The stirring Karelia Suite celebrated that beautiful region, where the Finns believe the soul resides. They rejoiced when they gained it from Russia after the First World War and despaired when they had to give it back after the Second. They had sided with Germany, reasoning that your enemy's enemy is your friend; the Soviets had bombed Helsinki in 1939.
Although Sibelius taught no pupils, the conservatoire in Helsinki is named after him. The Sibelius Academy has an extraordinary record of turning out world-class musicians, helped by generous grants from successive governments that have recognised Sibelius's value as a cultural icon. Music festivals abound in Finland, several of them committed to contemporary work; many students emulate their hero by writing music. The Finnish Music Information Centre represents more than 300 composers, one-tenth of whom are represented in this festival.
The best known are those of Salonen's generation. He co-founded the group Ears Open to challenge audiences' preconceptions about contemporary music and attempt to draw them away from an over-reliance on Sibelius. It spawned Magnus Lindberg and Kaija Saariaho, whose new works are nowadays subjects of international debate and criticism. Lindberg's Clarinet Quintet makes an appearance (29 November) in a performance by the Avanti! Chamber Orchestra with Kari Kriikku, one of the world's finest clarinettists. Saariaho's Quatre instants is sung by the superstar diva Karita Mattila with the LA Philharmonic, Salonen conducting (9 November).
The senior composer Einojuhani Rau tavaara is represented on 21 November by The Fiddlers, a suite of dances from Ostrobothnia, performed by the English Chamber Orchestra (which is co-hosting the festival) under the Finnish conductor Ralf Gothóni. Rautavaara has a direct link to Sibelius, who once nominated him for scholarship. He denies any stylistic influence but acknowledges Sibelius's looming, mostly benign, shadow. "Whenever a piece of mine is performed," he laughs, "critics still write either that it sounds like Sibelius or that it doesn't!"
"Sibelius and Beyond" continues at various venues until 5 December. For more details, visit: www.sibeliusandbeyond.com
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