Jean Sibelius - Finlandia

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Sibelius (born this day in 1865) is without doubt the premier composer of Finland, and this is without doubt his greatest (and most famous) work.  When it was first performed in 1900 it was considered subversive - Finland, while autonomous, was a Grand Dutchy under the overlordship of the Czars.  The Russians wanted no regional feelings of patriotism awakening in their Empire.

But time moves on and changes tastes in political organization and art.  Sibelius was wildly popular in his day, much in the tradition of the great composers of the end of the Nineteenth Century - Mahler, Bruckner, and Tchaikovsky.  Music critics in our age have found much not to like in his music.  It's not complicated enough; it's too straight forward; it sounds like it's, well, old.  To modern critics perhaps his greatest sin is his lyricism.  There's nothing atonal or arrhythmic anywhere in sight.  It's enough to make the SWPL sniff in disdain.

Needless to say, all of this explains why his music remains stubbornly popular to this day.  Those of us who like lyrical musical arcs, music that can still inspire, music that appeals to the right side of the brain - we'll keep listening.