SIBELIUS AND WAGNER
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Esplanade Concert Hall
Friday (6 November 2026)
This review was published in The Straits Times on 8 November 2026 with the title "SSO's stirring Sibelius programme with Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen ends with Wagner".
The Singapore Symphony Orchestra has spawned a most harmonious musical relationship with Finnish conductors over the decades. Beginning with the appointment of Okko Kamu as principal guest conductor in the mid-1990s, and now Hannu Lintu as current music director, further ground was broken with the Singapore debut of Pietari Inkinen, whose previous posts included the New Zealand Symphony and Japan Philharmonic Orchestras.
Thus it was natural that Finn Jean Sibelius’ music figured strongly, registering first with his most celebrated tone poem Finlandia. Braying brass chorales opened in rude health as nationalistic fervour was whipped up, then came the 140 voices from the Singapore Symphony Chorus and Youth Choir (prepared by Eudenice Palaruan and Wong Lai Foon).
Oi Suomi katso sinun päiväs koittaa (Oh Finland, Look Daylight is Dawning) was the rallying cry for Finns to shake off the yoke of Russian domination. Church-goers will know this heart-rending melody as Be Still, My Soul, so stirring it has become a second national anthem. Although relatively brief, this truly set the stage for more epic music to come.
Finnish soprano Johanna Rusanen joined for six Sibelius songs in Finnish and Swedish with orchestrations by Colin Matthews, Jussi Jalas and the composer himself. Variety of styles and expressions defined this fine selection which included Illalle (To Evening), Lastu Lainehilla (Driftwood) and Kaiutar (Echo Nymph) to begin.
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| Photo: Yong Junyi |
In Våren flyktar hastigt (Spring is Flying), cheeky humour abounded with love in the air, while a more serious tone coloured Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte (The Tryst) and its downbeat ending. Var det en dröm? (Was it a Dream?) was the biggest hit, with Rusanen’s resounding voice amply filling the hall.
The first half closed with Lemminkainen’s Return, the frenetic final movement from Four Legends from The Kalevala. The music’s narrative was urgently driven, the orchestra stepping on the gas for an adrenaline-filled ride as the Finnish saga’s reckless anti-hero goes home after a life of misadventure and dismemberment.
Scenes from Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) was the modest title for conductor Inkinen’s selection of orchestral highlights from the fourth and final opera of Richard Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung cycle. It was in reality a 50-minute symphony with no breaks, literally an orchestral odyssey that was exhausting for both players and listeners.
The music followed the Ring cycle’s hero Siegfried after awaking the valkyrie Brunnhilde from her enforced slumber to his murder and ultimate destruction of the gods. The orchestral interludes opened with Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, where Austin Larson’s off-stage horn call ushered in some of the repertoire’s most inspired and illuminating minutes.
The orchestra was in its element, from the somber glory of Siegfried’s Death and Funeral March to paving the way for Brunnhilde’s Immolation Scene. Soprano Rusanen had no grand entrance, instead emerging from within the orchestra’s ranks for the final swansong as Brunnhilde set Valhalla ablaze with her flame-throwing vocals. These were moments which music-lovers die for.
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| Photo: Yong Junyi |
This concert was also reviewed on Bachtrack.com, published on 10 November 2026:
