Despite the rejection of the string orchestra repertoire by several major publishers of his day, including the extremely influential Breitkopf & Härtel, Sibelius was drawn to the medium throughout his lifetime. Most of his works, however, are arrangements of works composed in other media that were more easily publishable and might be familiar to listeners in other guises. In 1922 Sibelius composed Andante Festivo for the 25th anniversary of the Saynatsalo plywood mill. First written for a string quartet and later arranged for a string orchestra and timpani ad libitum, it has a musical vocabulary in almost complete opposition to the prevailing trends in art and music at the time. While it would have been rather fashionable, as well as appropriate for the occasion, to capture the mechanical features of the mill, Sibelius' greatest inspiration was nature, and the work features a tone of almost sacred solemnity. Curiously, Sibelius conducted the premiere of this work, long into his retirement, in a 1939 live radio broadcast to the United States on New Year's Eve.

© Brian Wise, All Music Guide