The BBC
Midland Orchestra
Leader, Alfred Cave
Conducted by Leslie Heward
Of Sibelius's seven symphonies the fourth in A minor is held by many musicians to be his greatest. In the space of half-an-hour he says compactly, and with the utmost restraint and economy of means, all that goes to make a typical Sibelius utterance. The whole work is stark in the sense that it is stripped of all superfluities of thematic material and orchestral colouring, yet it is packed with every ingredient necessary to a symphony in a highly-concentrated form.
The first movement, in slow time throughout, lasts only eight minutes; the second in quick time, four minutes; the third, the slow movement, eight minutes; and the fourth, again in quick time, ten minutes. In nothing does Sibelius better show his deep regard for form but his utter disregard for convention than in this magnificent work.