It’s usual to praise the Philadelphia strings, and they are wonderful, but it’s the woodwinds that are particularly impressive here. This probably is the best of all the slower versions: it lasts nearly 20 minutes, but there isn’t a dull moment. I have no doubt that remastering would open up the sound even more (and maybe give the bass drum better definition), but until that unlikely event occurs, this will do just fine.

It also sports a climax that has the finest brass playing around, and while the sonics lack bass and are slightly compressed, the engineers get the balances exactly right. En Saga, with its acres of string ostinatos, surges with energy made all the more potent thanks to moderate tempos that let the players really articulate their parts. These always have been great performances. Associate Conductor David Cho was on the podium.Let’s start with the tone poems. THE CONNECTION – Sibelius 5 was last performed on a Utah Symphony Masterworks concert back in 2007. Constitution (Prohibition of Alcoholic Beverages). Also in 1919 were the Spartacist Uprising in Germany and ratification of the 18th Amendment of the U.S. THE WORLD – 1919 was the year of “The Tragic Week” of anarchist riots in Argentina. As an experience, Sibelius 5 is neither modern nor quaint, only lasting. Just like the absolutely transcendent sounds of the “swan hymn” in the finale, Sibelius was merely acknowledging his fortunate ability to gather the mysterious world around him into music. The gorgeous opening sunrise of the first movement has been best described by Sibelius himself: “…God opens His door for a moment and His orchestra plays the Fifth Symphony.” This was no boast. The symphony was completed in time for the birthday concert but was almost immediately revised in 1916 and again for the final time in 1919.

His diary entries from the time reveal a decidedly gloomy mood but also make mention of the hopeful “mountain surely ascend” with the 5th. 1915 was a Great War year and Sibelius was depressed by the loss of life and financially stricken by the loss of access to his German publishers. 5 suffered through three iterations before achieving completion, the first dating from 1915. Also like Mozart, the next link in the Sibelius chain provided some welcome triumphal medicine. Much like Mozart had done with his 24th Piano Concerto, Sibelius had courted disfavor with his dark and misunderstood 4th Symphony.

It was commissioned for the celebration of Sibelius’ 50th birthday which, given his status as the most importantly “international” Finn alive, promised to be a big event.

Predominate among the works that came out of that meditative reverie was the 5th Symphony. Many of his late creations shared an earthbound spirituality that, according to biographer James Hepokoski, reflected the composer’s secluded forest retreat at Ainola. THE HISTORY – During his last meaningfully productive period, Sibelius was concerned with a deepening of the connection between music and nature. For his part, Sibelius was changing but not in a way that would register quickly to either side. Though he had never intentionally aligned himself with either side of the conservative/progressive debate, the progressives had essentially decided the matter for him and often made him the model-opposite of their preferred “modern” sound. THE COMPOSER – JEAN SIBELIUS (1865-1957) – Sibelius was confronting a crisis of compositional faith in the middle 1910s. Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings.

Sibelius 5 sounds not changing