Classical Music | Orchestral Music

Jean Sibelius

Symphony no. 5  Play

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Herbert von Karajan Conductor

Recorded on 09/01/1976, uploaded on 12/02/2013

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Jean Sibelius premiered his Symphony No. 5, leading the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, on his own 50th birthday, December 8, 1915. Immediately afterwards, however, the work underwent a lengthy process of revision. A revised version appeared shortly thereafter, and was even premiered in 1916, but survives today only in some string bass parts. Sibelius then worked on the symphony for the following two years, producing a third and final version, in which it is known today. This version was premiered with Sibelius again conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra on November 24, 1919.

The decade of the symphony’s composition was an unstable one, and radical compositions during those years appeared from the pens of Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Debussy and Ravel. Sibelius, who had enjoyed decades of basking in the domestic and international limelight, suddenly found himself facing the growing trend of modernism, not just from fellow composers, but in the expectations of audiences. Sibelius often viewed the new musical trends of the earlier 20th century negatively. Thus, he remained largely true to his own artistic inclinations, though he did incorporate within the original version of the Symphony No. 5 a somewhat more modernist harmonic language and techniques such as bitonality.

The Symphony No. 5 is cast in three (as opposed to the usual four) expansive movements that span a little more than half of an hour in performance time. The first movement is a very loosely conceived sonata form that ultimately develops into and concludes with a lively and quick-paced scherzo. The middle Andante movement is something of a theme and variations, though not strictly in form, with the initial melody varied and developed throughout its course. Lastly, the dramatic finale, mixes elements of sonata and rondo form, and progresses in opposite manner as the first movement by moving from a quick tempo at the start to a slow one at the end.       Joseph DuBose

 

Part 1: Tempo molto moderato - Allegro moderato (ma poco a poco stretto) - Vivace molto - Presto - Più Presto
Part 2: Andante mosso, quasi allegretto - Poco a poco stretto - Tranquillo - Poco a poco stretto - Ritenuto al tempo I
Part 3: Allegro molto - Misterioso - Un pochettino largamente - Largamente assai - Un pochettino stretto

Recorded in 1965 or September, 1976

courtesy of YouTube