Jean Sibelius

Skogsraet - the Wood Nymph op. 15

Who would have thought that there were still over 20 minutes of superb orchestral music by Sibelius to be discovered?

It was indeed a minor sensation when conductor Osmo Vänskä introduced curious listeners to the music of 'Skogsraet' (English: 'The Wood Nymph') in a concert and on a CD recording in 1996. Who would have thought that there were still over 20 minutes of superb orchestral music by Sibelius to be discovered? It should be said that this is no early work that the composer later rejected. 'The Wood Nymph' was written in 1895, thus shortly after the Kullervo Symphony and the first version of 'En saga'.

After the first performances, the 'Wood Nymph' fell into a long sleep. It caught the public's attention momentarily in 1936 when it was performed in Helsinki at an official state ceremony and transmitted live on the radio.