If sonic splendour were the sole criterion, Vladimir Ashkenazy’s Sibelius symphony cycle with the Philharmonia ... Symphony No. 3 Symphony No. 6 Symphony No. 5 Symphony No. 7 ...

Recordings don’t capture the full dynamics that are at play in Sibelius’s music. The next piece was Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5. After the gnarled and tangled Northland, Enlightenment ...

Sibelius’s Symphony No. 5, completed in 1919, was commissioned by the Finnish government to honor the beloved composer’s birthday. The work was inspired by the Finnish landscape and nature.