Jean Sibelius conducts “Andante Festivo“ in 1939

Jean Sibelius - Andante Festivo, JS 34b, for String Orchestra and Timpani, conducted by Jean Sibelius with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Radion sinfoniaorkesteri). Helsinki Concert Hall, Finland. New Year’s Eve Radio Broadcast, 1Jan 1939. Andante Festivo is a single movement composition by Jean Sibelius, originally scored for string quartet in 1922. In 1938, the composer rescored the piece for string orchestra and timpani. Full-throated and hymnic, this piece of work is constructed as a smooth, continuous stream of similar melodic phrases that flow into and out of each other. Despite the rejection of the string orchestra repertoire by several major publishers of his day, including the extremely influential Breitkopf & Härtel, Sibelius was drawn to the medium throughout his lifetime. Most of his works, however, are arrangements of works composed in other media that were more easily publishable and might be familiar to listeners in other guises. In 1922 Sibelius composed Andan