If you enjoyed Friday’s first night of the Proms, here is a reminder of Sibelius’s sequence of incidental music for Belshazzar’s Feast, which was followed by Walton’s far noisier choral masterpiece. The exotic colours of Sibelius’s score (lots of winding clarinets and piccolo) reflect the intricacies of the spoken play, with dances of life and death resonating around the famous writing on the wall. The only vocal number, The Song of the Jewish Girl, is nicely sung by Pia Pajala. Leif Segerstam is totally in tune with this music, and adds a host of smaller curiosities including two movements of an early planned symphony, tracing Sibelius’s evolving style; fascinating.
