played by BBC Orchestra (Section A)
Leader, Paul Beard
Conducted by Sir Henry J. Wood
Muriel Brunskill (contralto)
Incidental music: The Tempest
Ballad : The ferryman's brides
(Solo contralto, Muriel Brunskill )
Symphony No. 5, in E flat
Sibelius has written a considerable amount of incidental music to plays, among which is the music to Shakespeare's The Tempest, written for a production of the play in 1926 at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen. The published version of the music 's divided into three sections: the prelude, a suite of nine pieces for full orchestra, and another suite of eight pieces for small orchestra.
The Ferryman's Brides
The Ferrvman's Brides '. an early work. was first heard in England at a Promenade Concert in 1936. The poem by Oksanen is based on an old Finnish legend, which tells how a young ferryman is taking his bride across the River Pyortaja by moonlight. The bride is filled with sudden dread of the rising waters, though the ferryman tries to comfort her by saying that he has known every twist and turn of the river since boyhood. When the boat is nearing the chtts, the Water King's daughter, who has secretly loved the young ferryman, is filled with despair on seeing a woman in the boat. In her rage she wrecks the boat and the two mortals are drowned.
Symphony No. 5
Sibelius's Fifth Symphony was composed in 1915 and was the result of a commission from the Finnish Government to mark the composer s fiftieth birthday. The work was revised in 1916 and ' practically composed anew' in 1918-19. The music is Sibelius at his most melodic most genial, and least complex. Melody and harmony are comparatively straightforward, and the orchestration rich and colourful.