Listening Guide: Sibelius Symphony No. 5

[@jacobspeth6464]

fav symphony of all time. the last movement never ceases to amaze me even after 100s of times. jean sibelius wrote for the soul

[@j.p.westwater2334]

Favorite symphony from my favorite composer. What a master of tension and resolution with those big pedal tones and his perfect balance of consonance and dissonance! I didn't know he had throat cancer, I actually just had an operation to remove a tumor in my thyroid a week ago. Feeling closer to Jean than ever ♥️

[@philharmonia_orchestra]

Thank you for your thoughts and the positive feedback. We wish you a speedy recovery.

[@j.p.westwater2334]

@@philharmonia_orchestra Thanks!

[@Itapirkanmaa2]

Sibelius did not have a throat cancer, he had a papilloma growth in his vocal chords that was successfully removed surgically. These are very rarely carcinogenic.

[@liltchaik5240]

Extremely well done video! Loved the accompanying shots of the Finnish landscape & the narration. Deserves far more views.

[@philharmonia_orchestra]

Thank you so much! We're thrilled you like the video - and the Finnish landscapes. Please subscribe to keep up with all of our content, if you can!

[@MenelionFR]

Thanks for the listening guide! Thanks for the effort you put to educate us, your watchers and listeners! It is greatly appreciated.

[@shantihealer]

Thank you for this. Brought up the tears again. Done with reverence & imagination as befits this extraordinary, timeless music.

[@SeppoJanhonen]

Thank you, Paul, for this excellent presentation! Great work! As a Finn I especially enjoy your interest to Sibelius! The swan theme and its visualization are very interesting. I read somewhere that there can be heard the theme of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy in parallel with the swan theme. It would be interesting to hear your comment on this.

[@thomasbirkhahn9616]

Thank you! Very informative!!

[@EmanuelSpader]

Thank you so much for this video! Listening guides are sooo valuable and there are simply not enough out there. It really helps people like me who don't have a huge amount of experience with classical music but wants to learn more and need some help with what to listen for in a work. Thanks again!

[@juliaaraujo6722]

Perfect video 👏👏👏👏

[@philharmonia_orchestra]

Thank you!

[@orenanpablo]

Beautiful!!! I love this symp

[@geraldinetaylor6231]

Fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed the description of this music, which is one of my all time favourite piece of music. Thanks so much Paul and the Phil for this.

[@philharmonia_orchestra]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for spending time on our channel. Please subscribe to keep up to date on all of our releases. We have some great content planned!

[@geraldinetaylor6231]

@@philharmonia_orchestra As an old 'Friend' of the Orchestra, I am subscribed. Keep up the good work and take care.

[@musicstewart9744]

Watching this in preparation for hearing it tomorrow with the Philadelphia Orchestra. May 2024.

[@misako699]

This video really helps me understand the 5th symphony. Especially the swan picture on the horn codes is amazing! I belong to an amateur orchestra in Tokyo. We're going to play the symphony at the next concert. Is it okay to introduce your idea in a program note? I'll of course mention it's through your courtesy. Hope you'll allow me to do it. Thank you so much!

[@comartse]

What a great video! I appreciate your work on this. It was enlightening.

[@philharmonia_orchestra]

Thank you, we're so glad you enjoyed!

[@paullewis2413]

At the two extremes of his output “Kullervo” (1892). and “Tapiola” (1926) we have, IMO, two of the finest musical compositions of all time.

[@noriemeha]

I think Sib was struggling with composition of major work at the time of composing the 5th. Yes, his inner critic was slowing him down and the mixed reception to his 4th (IMO his best/most personal symphony) was spoiling his confidence. But he overcame that difficulty by composing two symphonies, more or less, side by side as it were, and swapping ideas between them. So his projective description of his 6th in his journal, actually better fitted his 7th. His last two symphonies fed off each other during their composing and he had less problems with them than he had with the 5th.

[@coolhandlukegbr]

Very insightful and astute piece of analysis.

[@AJNorth]

To paraphrase a line by Dr. Jacob Bronowski from his extraordinary series "The Ascent of Man" (1973), the Sibelius Fifth is a monument to unaging intellect - and to the unaging and indomitable human spirit, as well.

[@sealand000]

That's some ending!

[@PatrickGrigore11]

Plz do cornet next

[@monicaaiken9746]

❤