Salonen LA Variations_ Sibelius Symphony No. 5 Live at Verbier Festival

Esa-Pekka Salonen, musical director of the Los Angeles Philarmonic Orchestra until summer 2009, is one of the most brilliant conductors of his generation. He has recently taken up the position of Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. Even though he studied at the Sibelius Academy, it took him years before considering conducting works of Finland s emblematic composer, Jean Sibelius. 'To me, he says, an ideal concert of Sibelius should not look like an interpretation, nor like any point of view. I would like it to be like the shattering ice, during springtime, in a Northern river: intense, beautiful, terrifying and inevitable. I am not sure if someone can ever do that, but we can at least try.' During Summer 2007 in Verbier, Salonen lead the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra, and took up this challenge in Sibelius' Fifth Symphony. His interpretation really evokes these ice blocks breaking during springtime: intense, beautiful, terrifying and inevitable. Before this unforgettable « Fifth » of Sibelius, Salonen, also a composer, conducts one of his own works, L.A. Variations. Premiered in 1996 and commissioned by the Los Angeles Philarmonic Orchestra, this piece has been especially written by Salonen in order to highlight the virtuosity and the power of this orchestra.