Sibelius: Belshazzar's Feast and Symphony No. 3 in C Major, Op. 52
Belshazzar's Feast, Op. 51, is incidental music by Jean Sibelius to a play of the same name by the journalist, poet, and playwright Hjalmar Fredrik Eugen Procopé. Sibelius composed in 1906 eight movements, scored for orchestra, with singers also being required in some numbers.
The Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 52, by Jean Sibelius, is a symphony in three movements composed in 1907. Coming between the romantic intensity of Sibelius's first two symphonies and the more austere complexity of his later symphonies, it is a good-natured, triumphal, and deceptively simple-sounding piece. The symphony's first performance was given by the Helsinki Philharmonic Society, conducted by the composer, on 25 September 1907. In the same concert, his suite from the incidental music to Belshazzar's Feast, Op. 51, was also performed for the first time.
Conducted by Dominique Beaulieu
CMD Paris Philharmonic in Orleans