Sibelius – Symphony No 3

First, apologies for the longwindedness of the posts on the Fall compilation. Now, Sibelius.

I’ve never really got on with the Third. It’s not that I actively disliked it – if I had, I might have made an effort to understand it – but more that I didn’t take it seriously. So I don’t think I’ve listened to it more than two or three times before. In fact I don’t think I had heard this version – part of the set I bought about 15 years ago – ever before.

Something odd happened this time because halfway through I caught myself not taking it seriously again, so I decided to listen to it a second time. Now I understand this piece much better and rate it a bit (though not much) more highly.

The busyness of the first movement makes a strong impression, especially if you are experiencing it as a dose of bright C major sunlight on a dark grey November morning in gloomy London. But whereas my impression of the opening movement of the Second is of economy and efficiency - see http://terrapinlistens2.blogspot.com/2008/09/sibelius-symphony-no-2.html – here, it is the opposite. There is a wealth of material in the exposition, but I’m a bit disappointed that Sibelius doesn’t do much more with it. Again, I thought on first listening that I had been wrong to bracket the second movement with other Sibelius slow movements which just seem to be there to be pretty. But the second time round I wasn’t so sure.

I love the third (and final) movement now, however, especially the way the chorale theme comes out of nowhere like a ship out of a mist, and sweeps on and on, delaying its resolution until the very end.

I like this work more than I did. But equally important, I respect it now