The year 2015 marks a special 150th anniversary of Sibelius’ birth. Ondine takes an early step to celebrate this occasion by releasing a special anniversary edition 'Jean Sibelius: The Essential Orchestral Favourites'.

The new compilation is an updated and expanded version of ODE10372, released in 2003. The collection has now been expanded to two CDs, to include two of the most favourite masterpieces from the composer: the Violin Concerto and the 2nd Symphony.

As a special feature, the 52-page photo album of the new edition includes several photos of Sibelius by the photographer Bertil Dahlgren which have not been released until now.

The collection includes the only surviving recording of Sibelius conducting his own music: Andante festivo recorded on New Year’s Day, 1939 with the Finnish Radio Orchestra, a performance which was also broadcast live to the United States.

All the other works in this collection are played by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leif Segerstam. The soloist in the Violin Concerto is Pekka Kuusisto.