Symphony no. 5 / Pohjola’s Daughter

Album by Jean Sibelius & Philharmonia Orchestra & Esa‐Pekka Salonen

Symphony No. 5 and Pohjola’s Daughter are orchestral works by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, completed in 1915 (Symphony No. 5, revised 1916) and 1906 respectively. Musically, the works contrast symphonic form and descriptive tone-poem writing — the Fifth Symphony condenses Sibelius's late symphonic style into a taut, architectonic structure with broad brass fanfares and motivic transformation, while Pohjola’s Daughter employs vivid orchestral colour and thematic narration to evoke mythic imagery, together marking important stages in his artistic development.