TRACKLISTING

CD 1
Symphony No.1 · Symphony No.4

CD 2
Symphony No.2 · Finlandia · Karelia Suite

CD 3
Symphony No.3 · Symphony No.6 · Tapiola

CD 4
Symphony No.5 · Symphony No.7 · En saga

CD 5
Violin Concerto* · 2 Serious Melodies*
2 Serenades* · Romance for strings**· Valse triste**· Luonnotar***

Boris Belkin violin*
Elisabeth Söderström soprano***

Philharmonia Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra**
Vladimir Ashkenazy

RECORDING INFORMATION

March 2003 marks Vladimir Ashkenazy's 40th year as a Decca recording artist.

Ashkenazy has been closely identified with the music of Sibelius for over twenty years. One of his first outstanding achievements as a conductor was his cycle of symphonies and tone poems. These acclaimed recordings were made during the 1980s.

Shortly before embarking on the symphonies, Ashkenazy conducted fellow-Russian Boris Belkin in the Violin Concerto and four miniatures for violin and orchestra in recordings made during 1978–79. This disc of violin works receives an international CD release for the first time and the hauntingly beautiful, yet rarely heard, Luonnotar has also been added. Two short orchestral pieces conclude this disc, the popular Valse triste and the Romance for strings, in recordings made with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.