Paavo Järvi conducts Sibelius's Kullervo — With Johanna Rusanen (soprano), Ville Rusanen (baritone)

The first and perhaps boldest statement of Finnish nationalism in music by Jean Sibelius, Kullervo (1892) is a magnificently evocative work in five movements that announced the young Sibelius as a leading cultural light and proponent of Finnish identity in the Russian-controlled, Swedish-speaking Finland of the late 19th century. Inspired by folk music and the epic Kalevala, a 19th-century compilation of folklore and mythology that would influence Sibelius throughout his career, Kullervo traces the tragic fate of the eponymous hero through propulsive melodies, stunning vocal passages, and all-encompassing orchestral textures.

Estonian conducting legend Paavo Järvi, a longtime champion of Sibelius’s music, leads the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich with the Estonian National Male Choir and two accomplished Finnish soloists, siblings Johanna and Ville Rusanen, in this stirring and dramatic masterpiece that has seen a well-deserved resurgence in recent decades.