Stavanger Symphony Orchestra . Niklas Willén

The Norwegian city of Stavanger is the Cultural Capital of Europe for 2008. In the run-up to the festivities their fantastic symphonic orchestra will tour Europe with the young and exciting Swedish conductor Niklas Willén. The programme presents a very good sample of Scandinavian music. As a child, the Norwegian Geir Tveitt (1908-1981) was taken on holiday to Hardanger (West Norway) where he came under the spell of the rich folk tradition. This attracted him to the orchestral suite form which in this concert he alternates with original folk songs. Folkloric melody was an important source of inspiration for the famous Norwegian Edward Grieg (1843-1907). In this programme, his large-scale but lesser-known work 'Symphonic Dances' (1896-1898) will be performed. Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) stamps his Finnish seal on this compact and intriguing Seventh Symphony from 1924. This also happened to be his last musical achievement, after that he failed to write another piece for thirty years.