The result is a thrilling bit of gladiatorial combat, and Mälkki and the orchestra delivered it with abundant power and precision.

SFGate

Yet Mälkki seemed supremely undaunted by the work’s knotty logic, and her boldness proved infectious. In the first movement especially, where Sibelius unloads a table full of thematic knickknacks and then proceeds to push them around in ever-changing combinations, Mälkki directed the listener’s attention to each one in turn with calm specificity, and she deftly managed the potentially disorienting shift in tone that happens in mid-movement.”

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