Nielsen's Fifth Symphony

John Storgårds joins the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for a programme of Scandinavian music, painting a portrait of the far north, exploring the power of the natural world, and providing a vehicle for expressing human drama too.

Nielsen's gripping Fifth Symphony was written in the aftermath of the First World War and is music which this "born composer of symphonies", as Sibelius called him, struggled to write; "it is the most difficult task I have attempted yet..." Nielsen said. Its appeal to a listener is immediate and intense; its fight between romanticism and hard-hitting power and chaos is most clearly felt at the end of the first movement, where the side drum tries, and only just fails, to overwhelm the orchestra.

Simone Lamsma joins the orchestra for Sibelius's multi-layered violin concerto, music which he poured his heart and soul into. Soaring lyricism meets gutsy energy, and it ends with what has been called a "polonaise for polar bears".

The programme opens with music that includes recordings of birds from the Arctic; terns, swans, larks, ducks and waders were all recorded in their natural habitats by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara for his 'Cantus Arcticus'. This is breathtakingly atmospheric music - the orchestra and the birds collaborate as equals in the performance. Sometimes they happily share the limelight and at other times jostle for aural supremacy, in music which creates genuine wonder and goes straight to the heart.

Recorded at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall on 16 May 2026 and presented by Elizabeth Alker.

Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus
Sibelius: Violin Concerto

8.20
Interval music

Nielsen: Symphony No.5

Simone Lamsma (violin)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
John Storgårds (conductor)

To listen on most smart speakers, just say "ask BBC Sound to play Radio 3 in Concert".