Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

On this second volume of Sibelius Symphonies (Nos. 1 and 3 are available on Naxos 8572305), the acclaimed young Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen interprets two of his compatriot’s most contrasting symphonies. Symphony No. 4 is a work of ominous brooding and bleak desolation, reflecting Sibelius’s psychological state at the time of its composition. Sibelius commented of his much-revised and expansively heroic Symphony No. 5 ‘It is as if God the Father had thrown down mosaic pieces from heaven’s floor and asked me to put them back as they were.’