But it is only with his Fourth Symphony, dubbed "futuristic" because of
the unusual boldness and pithiness of its style, the absence of a
general tonality, the independence of the orchestral voices, that
Sibelius's gift attains absolute expression. There are certain works
that are touchstones, and make apparent what is original and virtuous in
all the rest of the labors of their creator, and give his personality a
unique and irrefragable position. The Fourth Symphony of Sibelius is
such a composition. It is a very synthesis of all his work, the
reduction to its simplest and most positive terms of a thing that has
been in him since first he began to write, and that received heretofore
only fragmentary and indecisive expression. In its very form it is
essence. The structure is all bone. The style is sharpened to a biting
terseness. The coloring is the refinement of all his color; the rhythms
have a freedom toward which Sibelius's rhythms have always aspired; the
mournful melody of the adagio is well-nigh archetypical. All his life
Sibelius has been searching for the tone of this music, desiring to
speak with its authority, and concentrate the soul and tragedy of a
people into a single and eternal moment. All his life he had been
seeking the prophetic gestures of which this work is full.
Pages:
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259