Abstract
While the music of Jean Sibelius was still dismissed as kitsch in the German-speaking world, in America the Finnish composer was already something of a pop-cultural phenomenon during his lifetime: the Boston Symphony Orchestra presented all of the Sibelius symphonies as early as the 1932/33 season, and American critics spoke of an uncomplex music that appealed not only to the elite but also to the general public. Popular music in the best sense was also composed in the 20th century by Aaron Copland, whose Clarinet Concerto was written for the jazz musician Benny Goodman, and Leonard Bernstein, who combined styles such as waltz, samba and blues in his Divertimento for the 100th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The Philharmonia Zürich performs the works by Bernstein and Copland (clarinet: Robert Pickup) together with the 2nd Symphony by Jean Sibelius, conducted by Yutaka Sado.