SPCO in fine form for Finns

Musicians from Finland have never before had such a powerful influence on what's being presented in classical concert halls on both sides of the Atlantic. While Osmo Vanska's post at the helm of the Minnesota Orchestra has made the Twin Cities a North American epicenter of Finnish music, he's but one of several prominent conductors from that country. Not coincidentally, there's been a flood of Finnish music wending its way onto the programs of American orchestras.

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra hasn't been resistant to the trend. This weekend's concerts were originally intended to feature a return visit by colorful and charismatic Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto, before illness forced him to cancel. But there are still plenty of Finns to go around. Conductor Dima Slobodeniouk is Russia-born, but has lived in Finland for the past two decades. And composer Magnus Lindberg is a hot commodity as composer-in-residence of the New York Philharmonic.

Oh, and...you rarely hear the SPCO tackle the music of Finland's national composer, Jean Sibelius, but his Third Symphony is the high point of this weekend's concerts. On Friday morning at St. Paul's Ordway Center, Slobodeniouk and the SPCO did something very special with one of Sibelius' most intimate and absorbing works. Evocative, emotional and ultimately transporting, it proved an inspiring performance, one that wept and whispered, both touching the heart and filling it with an empowering resolve that's uniquely Sibelius.

From the same land - but written about a century later - is Lindberg's Violin Concerto, which was given an arresting reading by Dutch violinist Simone Landsma. Making her Twin Cities debut, this international buzz artist was quite an impressive pinch hitter, bringing out all of the work's haunting hum and anxious tones. It's a piece that produces an atmosphere of dread, menace and trepidation, but it moved toward triumph, propelled by Lamsma's transfixing cadenza and a finale full of powerful strokes and intricate passagework.