David Dalle
Thursday December 27th, 2012 with David Dalle
Sibelius 7th symphony and danceable music from around the world

Saying goodbye to 2012 with the conclusion of my Sibelius symphony cycle with his 7th and final symphony completed in 1924. This is a gorgeous and fairly short work usually performed in less than 30 minutes. It shows Sibelius's mastery in his unique symphonic style. Despite being surprisingly mostly in the key of C major and minor, almost shocking in a work composed in 1924, it stands utterly apart from all the major contemporary trends, both new and old, confirming Sibelius as a lonely voice from the wilderness, a voice which was soon to be silenced by choice. After the 7th symphony, he composed a couple more pieces, then retreated to his isolated home north of Helsinki, and never published another work for the next 30 years of his very long life. He did work on an 8th symphony, but according to his wife, he burned it in 1940 along with everything else he had composed since 1926... His 7th symphony is a single movement work, in his unique style of continuous music with subtle changes in tempo and organic in its progression. It is a gorgeous work of sublime peacefulness.