New York, Carnegie Hall: Sallinen's Eighth Symphony

Extract

Aulis Sallinen's symphonies are predictably always compared with those of his compatriot Sibelius. The Cincinnati SO's American première of his latest — the Eighth — in January, just nine months after its world première — Paavo Järvi conducted both performances — hardly made it easy for the listener to shake off such ancestral thoughts, as it was programmed alongside Sibelius's own Fifth. Whereas the Fifth is probably Sibelius's most joyous symphony, Sallinen's, despite initially envisaging an uplifting conclusion, eventually settles for the familiar darkness.