Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony is perhaps the most sui generis of his seven, a stylistic and formal outlier in the set. Completely misunderstood by the audience at its 1911 premiere, this "psychological symphony" represented for the composer a plunge into the unconscious, symbolically represented by recurrent melodic gestures that sparkle throughout the work. The realm of dream and imagination, distorted by moments of dissonance unprecedented in Sibelius's oeuvre to this point, fills in the pieces of a puzzle best appreciated as a completed whole.
A moment to listen for in… Sibelius’s Fourth Symphony: The Chamber Orchestra of Europe shows off all the colors of its string section from the very beginning of the work, with the double basses' impossibly clear tone (00:54) and the mournful cello solo at 01:20. The violin and viola then build to an ethereal climax (2:40), unexpectedly interrupted (2:51) by a colorful new chord in the brass section—and that's all in just the opening measures of this enigmatic, whimsical symphony!
The legendary 1998 cycle of Sibelius's symphonies
The legendary 1998 cycle of Sibelius's symphonies