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| Kenneth Woods & the English Symphony Orchestra (Photo: Michael Whitefoot) |
Based in Elgar's home-town of Malvern, the English Symphony Orchestra (ESO), artistic director Kenneth Woods, is inevitably associated with the music of Elgar and their disc of his Symphony No. 1 and In the South, recorded live at Worcester Cathedral as part of the 2025 Elgar Festival and issued on the ESO's own label. But their reach is a lot further than that with recordings of symphonies by Philip Sawyers and Adrian Williams. One of the composer Woods and his orchestra are exploring is Elgar's great Finnish contemporary Sibelius
Until 25 September, ESO and Woods' performance of Sibelius' Symphony No. 5 (filmed at Wyastone Concert Hall) is available free on ESO Digital and if you want more of them the a subscription to the channel is very affordable. Sibelius began the symphony in 1914 and it was first performed in 1915 but he remained unsatisfied and for the next four years struggled with the work until the final version was premiered in 1919. These revisions are intimately linked to Sibelius' vision of wild swans which he saw in 1915.
"Just before ten to eleven saw sixteen swans. One of the greatest experiences in life. Oh God, what beauty: they circled over me for a long time. Disappeared into the sun like a silver ribbon, which glittered from time to time […] The Fifth Symphony’s finale theme. The trumpet will bind it together …."
Chalmers and ESO's recording of Sibelius' final symphonic masterpieces, Symphonies Nos. 6 & 7 and Tapiloa have been released as Volume 1 in the orchestra's Sibelius series. [See ESO website].
The orchestra's residency in Cheltenham launched earlier this month and they return on 2 December 2025 when Woods conducts chamber versions of Strauss' Four Last Songs (with April Fredrick) and Mahler's Symphony No. 9.
Further details from ESO website.
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