Tone Poem Tuesday

Jean Sibelius is a composer with whom I am in constant need of discovery. His work is sometimes warm and melodic and fully Romantic, but other times there is an austerity to his music, a certain emotional coolness and introspection that is sometimes difficult to get a handle on. Sibelius seems to be fond of repetition of sounds and musical figures, which can create a dreamy quality in his music. This is an example of the latter voice of Sibelius: no Finlandia-esque fireworks are on display here, just a sense of meditative motion as Sibelius musically describes (or so he says) a carriage ride in the darkness, followed by the arrival of sunrise.

Here is Jean Sibelius’s Night Ride and Sunrise.