This barely fits into the category of Mechanical Music, but it is
nonetheless for all the music lovers here.

Of all his 7 symphonies, the 4th is Sibelius's most perplexing, and
the most difficult to pull off.   It has almost no true "thematic
material", but through some sort of alchemy seems thematic anyway.
When properly performed it hangs together magnificently.   A mediocre
performance is just a muddle.

I've put the version as recorded by Sir Thomas Beecham and the London
Philharmonic Orchestra on my 78-rpm archive page.  It is from an
original 78-rpm record set (Victor DM-446) that is not commercially
available.

There have been many versions of this composition recorded.  I'm very
familiar with two (Colon Davis and Simon Rattle), but this one by
Beecham is by far the clearest reading (meaning that it's more
understandable).  It is definitely not a muddle.

The piece is composed of 4 movements, but they are usually played
without interruption; the version posted has joined all the pieces
together accordingly.

   http://www.inluxeditions.com/htmlfiles/78rpm.html#Sibelius

Cheers,

George Bogatko - gbogatko@intac.com
http://www.inluxeditions.com/