![]() ![]() In coming to grips with the cycle it might help to envision the symphonies in two broad groups. The Sibelius symphonies are mainstream musical lit, first-class stuff, masterpieces of the symphonic genre that transcend national boundaries or subtly demeaning labels. ![]() Sibelius has taken his rightful place amongst the major symphonists, far too vital and important a composer to be pigeonholed as a mere nationalist. Forget about Virgil Thomson's bitchy slap ("provincial beyond belief") and René Leibowitz's sour grapes ("the worst composer in the world.") Maybe there was a time when Sibelius was valued primarily by Finns and Anglophones, but those unenlightened days are long gone. If music means anything at all to you, all seven are indispensable, essential, and irreplacable. Each is a world unto itself, each unmistakably the work of the same composer, but each unique in its approach to the genre, to the orchestra, to music itself.
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