statesman Johan Vilhelm Snellman (an occasion for the Finns to make a show of their independent spirit to their Russian masters.) Processional was originally part of the Masonic Ritual Music, Op.113, which Sibelius composed for the newly established Finnish Masonic lodge, and later adapted for non-Masonic use, now using an English translation of the text, originally in Swedish. The two short chorales, recorded for the first time here, were written as academic exercises during Sibelius’s stay in Berlin, and are interesting as they most probably represent the great symphonist’s first attempts at writing orchestral music.

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Release: May 2005