Alexander Siloti
Sibelius completed the score by November 1908 and sent the manuscript to Alexander Siloti, who conducted the first performance, in Saint Petersburg, in 1909. The reviews of the first performance were unfavorable, except for one in "Novy Russ", and one reviewer called Siloti's conducting "slack and monotonous". A writer for "Novoye Vremya" asked, "Who is actually riding, and why?" Siloti had made cuts to the score.