Sibelius' Second Symphony

Two 20th-century heavyweights and a rediscovered gem.

Conflict and personal crises run deep in these two works by contemporaries Richard Strauss and Jean Sibelius. Metamorphosen was written as a battered Europe limped towards the close of the Second World War. Haunted by the destruction of so many cultural landmarks, as well as fear for his Jewish daughter-in-law’s safety, Strauss pours forth with yearning and despair, reflecting the era’s deep instabilities in music.

Written four decades earlier, in his Second Symphony, Sibelius summons one of the great feel-good finales of the symphonic repertoire – despite his inner grief and anxiety over his daughter’s ill health – a musical balm wrought in shining orchestral colours.

Offering a gentler counterweight is Bruch’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola. Composed for his clarinettist son, the work revels in the two solo instrument’s warm sonorities, displayed here by the Orchestra of Opera North’s own David Aspin and Oliver Casanovas Nuevo. This short, 18-minute piece has undergone a reappraisal since the autograph score turned up at auction in 1991, with many praising its craft and elegant lyricism. In time, it may well prove to be as popular as Bruch’s more established Violin Concerto.

Part of the Kirklees Concert Season 2026–27

Programme

Strauss Metamorphosen
Bruch Double Concerto for Clarinet and Viola
Sibelius Symphony No. 2