BBC Scottish Orchestra : conductor, Ian Whyte. Norman Allin (bass)
The Symphony No. 2 in D, composed in 1902, shows Sibelius striking out on new lines. Although this symphony is cast in the usual four movements, each movement, particularly the first, is designed for the most part on new principles .of musical form. Instead of the announcement of two or three self-contained melodies that are developed and then restated, Sibelius begins with melodic fragments and then proceeds to combine them into a melodic whole in the course of the movement. The procedure is really the reverse of the classical and romantic methods of symphonic construction