Sibelius completed his final opus-number compositions, opp. 115 and 116, in 1929. They were originally composed at the suggestion of the publishers Carl Fischer, Inc., but were then refused acceptance due to their high performance demands. There, as “characteristic numbers […] for general purposes,” something else had evidently been envisioned – above all, something easier to sell.

After some delays, the pieces were published instead by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1930. If earlier on Sibelius had c...