Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 12 Sep 2026
The Adelaide Symphony Orchestra has an uncommon association with the symphonic music of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. In 2007 the ASO was the first Australian orchestra to record and subsequently release the complete cycle of Sibelius’ seven symphonies, directed by then-Chief Conductor Arvo Volmer. Back in 2023, current ASO Chief Conductor Mark Wiggleswiorth conducted the first symphony, and tonight marks the first of three concerts in which he leads the orchestra in the full cycle.
Such series are significant events and allow one the rare and exciting opportunity of immersing oneself fully in a composer’s oeuvre.
Sibelius (1865–1957) traversed the late Romantic and early modern eras and his music drew inspiration especially from The Kalevala, which is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature that blends myth and history to forge a shared sense of national and cultural belonging. Indeed, Sibelius was seen as a champion of Finnish national identity and a resistor of tightening Russian control of Finland.
Sibelius composed Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op.39 between 1898 and early 1899. During this time Tsar Nicholas II issued the so-called February Manifesto that harshly reduced the constitutional rights and self-governance of Finland, which was then an autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia. Following the announcement and implementation of the Manifesto there were robust and widespread domestic protests. Sibelius conducted the première performance of the symphony in Helsinki in April 1899, and audiences immediately interpreted it as a musical manifestation of cultural pride and national identity. Sibelius immediately became living symbol of Finnish independence.
The symphony opens with an evocative unaccompanied solo clarinet playing over a hushed timpani roll. Conductor Mark Wigglesworth gets exactly what he wants from principal clarinet Dean Newcomb and principal timpanist Andrew Penrose: their mood is ominous and prescient, as if bearing testimony to the simmering resentment of the Finnish population in the wake of the February Manifesto! The second movement bears the hallmarks of Tchaikovsky with a sighing theme that almost recalls his Pathétique Symphony. Wigglesworth rightly leaves the melody naked and unembellished, so that it has room to completely give way to the volatile and high-energy poignancy of the third movement that again significantly features the timpani. Wigglesworth allows the natural architecture of work to set appropriate tempi and dynamics in the fourth movement that ultimately recalls the clarinet in a sweeping and triumphant conclusion.
At its conclusion, it was fitting that Wigglesworth should draw the appreciative audience’s attention to the joyous musicianship of both Newcombe and Penrose.
Sibelius’ Symphony No. 3 in C Major, Op. 52, featured after the interval. Where Symphony No.1 is expansive, melodically lush and emotionally vulnerable, Symphony No. 3 is musically more efficient and ‘classical’. It uses less of the instrumental forces featured in the first symphony but still develops tension between dark moments and abrupt spirited outpourings. Wigglesworth ensured the strings never overpowered the woodwinds and set a pace in the third movement that allowed the strings to manifestly display their technical acuity in the difficult rapid scale passages. Wigglesworth also set a strict dynamic plan for the final movement that allowed the thunderous conclusion to be impactful and not just ‘loud’.
Pairing the first and third symphonies provides the audience with an absorbing account of Sibelius’ artistic evolution as a symphonist. We observe a composer who evolves from one who is unashamedly focussed on lush and emotional melody fuelled by patriot fervour to a master of concise, classical austerity. The audience loved the performance, and it bodes well for Concerts 2 and 3 in the series in the coming days.
Kym Clayton
When: 12 Sep
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
