DARKNESS AND LIGHT
Thursday-Saturday: Jean Sibelius' Second Symphony is his most popular -- a thing of southern warmth (it was begun in Italy) and northern intensity. Carl Nielsen's Fifth, its flailing snare drum bent on stopping the orchestra in its tracks, is his greatest. No one has thought harder about these symphonic summits than conductor Osmo Vänskä, who pairs them on this week's Minnesota Orchestra concerts, with neither apéritif nor chaser. Finnish/Danish ancestry not required. (11 a.m. Thu., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. $21-$83. Orchestra Hall, 11th St. and Nicollet Mall, Mpls. 612-371-8656 or www.minnesota orchestra.org.)
LARRY FUCHSBERG
