Leader, J. MOULAND BEGBIE
Conducted by IAN WHYTE Sibelius's ' Valse Triste ' is part of the incidental music to a drama, ' Kuolema' (Death). The story the music portrays is: A youth has fallen asleep at night by the sick bed of his mother. Slowly the dark room lights up with a red glow, and a waltz-tune is heard in the distance. The dying woman leaves her bed, and, awaying to the lilt of the music, summons dancers, who now enter the room. The mother dances with them until she falls on the bed exhausted. But she makes 'a supreme effort, and the dance is renewed, wilder than ever. at its height there comes a rap at the door. The sick woman cries out, the dancers and the music are gone, Death has come.