Confident in the belief that Jean Sibelius took not only his cigar but also his harmonica with him while walking in a forest of Ainola, the Sväng harmonica quartet (Eero Turkka, Eero Grundström, Pasi Leino and Jouko Kyhälä) is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth in 2015 with a comprehensive take on Sibelius’s music.
The players have been working hard on the arrangements and rehearsals and have released a preview of their recent studio work featuring extracts from Valse triste, the Karelia Suite and Andante festivo.
As an harmonica player of many years standing, I thought that I alone played Sibelius on this humble instrument! I greatly enjoyed the Svang Harmonica Quartet. I was playing the ‘Andante festivo’ only last night [after my wife had retired] I think that the ‘Alla marcia’ from the Karelia Suite came off best in the excerpts.