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Sibelius Symphony No. 4, an enigma?

George J

George J

Herefordshire member
I adore all seven of Sibelius's symphonies, but for me the No. 4 remained for decades a mystery. So stark, so actually terrifying in a sort of Hammer House Of Horrors way ...

I could well understand how you might never find any sense in it.

I cannot explain it in any sense, but it no longer terrifies me, and I think I can find it as uplifting as the overtly optimistic other symphonies.

Here is a performance that may unlock the enigma for those who cannot yet fathoms its depths.


It is currently available on a significant Decca box set of CDs. Here is an amazon link:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00YG7W8EO/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

I hope this post may unlock a fairly knotty piece for some ...

The actual sonic quality is, as expected from Decca, quite extra-ordinarily timeless, and well remastered.

Best wishes from George
 
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Interesting, this is the one symphony where the Maazel version beats the Barbirolli version to my ears of the main vinyl box sets.

Perhaps the way to think of the 4th is as a sort of anti-Pastoral, nature at its least human in musical form.
 
Nature as its least easily understood in humane terms!

Perhaps more easily understood in 2020!!!
 
I have always thought that 4 and 7 are good for winter, 2 and 5 good for summer, not sure about 6 and I don’t know 1 and 3. These days 4 is about the only one I ever listen to!
 
I find Sibelius 4th to be a fascinating but really difficult listen... its the absolute distillation of Sibelius unique style, but its bleak ascetism makes it feel cold and hard to like. It has so many fantastic wonderful moments, but never seems to add up to a whole as all his other symphonies all do (even the immature 1st when he hadn't really found his own voice yet). Over the years I've tried many different recordings of it - Maazel, Karajan, Rattle CBSO, Ratle Berlin, Oramo CBSO and inspired by this thread currently listening to Okku Kamu & Lahti Symphony Orchestra....might be the best of all of them. I've heard it live by Berglund & Bournemouth SO but the memory is eclipsed by the performance of the 2nd they gave in the same concert.
 
For me number 4 is where Sibelius arrives at his essential self, the end of his apprenticeship, and I love it for that reason. A masterpiece in every sense. I find it interesting that Maazel paired it with 7, the symphony in which that form is concentrated to the utmost degree, moreso than in any other symphony I know of, even Brian 10 or Lilburn 3. It's a wonderful pairing.

Mravinsky's 7 is without equal for me... but I don't think he recorded 4?
 
mandryka said:
I have always thought that 4 and 7 are good for winter, 2 and 5 good for summer, not sure about 6 and I don’t know 1 and 3. These days 4 is about the only one I ever listen to!
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Here is a nice perceptive performance of the Sixth for you. I adore this symphony. In reality I think Sibelius is my second favourite symphonist after Haydn. They have more parallels than you might think, and one is concision, which comes from an extra-ordinary ability to develop thematic ideas very quickly. Their use of the orchestra could hardly be more different though!

https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/sibelius-symphony-no-6-premiere-recording.243856/

Best wishes from George
 
I have a very firm set of favourite performances of each Sibelius Symphony, based on decades of listening to many many recordings. By now I have refined the few that remain in my library to a very short list.

First: Robert Kajanus, recorded in London [Premiere recording].
Second: Second as above.
Third: Likewise.
Fourth: Anthony Collins with the LSO, and Thomas Beecham with the LPO. Cannot prefer one to the other. Both get played when I am in the right mood for the music.
Fifth: Erik Tuxen with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Sixth, Georg Schneervoigt with the Helsinki Philharmonic. Linked to a transfer up-thread.
Seventh: Adrian Boult with The BBC SO - BBC live concert recording.

But I have been spending a lot of time recently on the Fifth, and Tuxen's performance is nowadays rather rarely mentioned, which I think is a shame.


The first movement unfolds with a fine blend of clarity and building tension that continues right to the bar line at the end, but never scrambles the rhythm or covers inner detail. The middle movement and Finale unfold exquisitely though the music itself does not require the supreme control of tension that the very strange form of the first movement needs to really come off! It is interesting that originally the Symphony was caste in four movements and it is hardly recognisable as the genesis of what we know now! The finished three movement symphony has a first movement that really in a fusion of two movements in a form that has never been agreed upon my musicologists and musical analysts - originally the Scherzo section was a separate second movement, and indeed it is possible to fail in integrating the disparate musical ideas. Tuxen really gives the idea that it could go no other way!

The famous recordings I am acquainted with are those of Berglund with the Bournemouth Symphony orchestra which strikes me as my favourite stereo "cycle" as such.

Barbirolli with the Halle, which brings this conductor's famous intensity and expressive breadth in performances that certainly do not rush at the expense of the music. The real problem is that some of the recordings are hardly good for their 1960s' vintage, even on CD.

Colin Davis with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. This is a truly wonderful orchestra playing music that had been in their repertoire since the days of Koussevitsky, and Davis makes a very cogent job of bringing out the music clearly, and dynamically. For me there is a hint of stiffness or perhaps lack of flexibility in the handling of the moments requiring steady and unforced, but still wide tempo, fluctuations found in many crucial places.

These Davis recordings I had on both LPs and CDs over the years, and Barbirolli on LPs fin the Second and Fifth, but then the cycle on CDs. So they all brought a lot of pleasure over the years.

I hope you enjoy Tuxen's take on the Fifth.

Best wishes from George
 
Prompted by your post I listened to my copy of Sibelius 4th and then realised it was the Collins LSO recording. I've also got Tuxen's 5th. Both on vinyl from Decca Eclipse from the 70s when I was a teenager. Still love Sibelius, and these recordings still sound very good.
 
I have just finished listening to the Second Symphony is a recording that I did not know I had. It is in the big Decca box with the Collins, Jensen and Tuxen recordings in it. There are many other curiosities in there as well.

What a glorious rendition I have discovered. Pierre Monteux with the LSO.

Really pleased with this.

Best wishes from George
 
It’s not one I know well yet but I see I have the Rodzinski version in the Harncourt CD box set I just picked up. I like the descriptions of its darkness, reminds of how terrifying Holst’s Mars is and I usually visualise how it must have been for any civilisation awaiting the arrival one of those massive and ruthless ancient armies. I have to be in the mood to listen to it, I’ll approach this symphony with the same caution.
 
I wondered why I was so unfamiliar with it until I listened to it again and Im ashamed to admit I quit half way through. It is enigmatic and likely to remain so for me.:eek: Life is getting short...
 
George J said:
Back on topic with the Fourth. Dave Hurwitz discusses the music and some of his favourite recordings:


Best wishes from George
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Enjoyed that George. I’m in the Karajan camp though I must listen to the Collins. I’m coming back to Karajan after a reassessment. I think he can be magnificent.
 
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