Sibelius Debussy Gupta Mäkelä

Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967) was a pioneer in his work with Hungarian folk music. In the Dances of Galánta, the composer merged vast knowledge with childhood memories of the music of his hometown of Galánta.

Hungarian and Finnish belong to the same language family, and both language areas have folk music combining melancholy and brute force. Jean Sibelius’ (1865−1957) Symphony No. 1 was the composer’s international breakthrough, but also the one most strongly influenced by Finnish folk music.

Rolf Gupta’s (born 1967) Epilogue is taken from Earth’s Song, a full-night work about Creation, inspired by 3000-year-old Indian texts. The work was written for the Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra Centennial in 2019.

Oslo Philharmonic’s own principal harpist Birgitte Volan Håvik plays the solo in Claude Debussy’s (1862–1918) elegant Danse sacrée et danse profane for harp and orchestra.