Sibelius Symphony No. 5
Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
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How Do We Conceive These Chords?
Sabilus thrived on taking convention and turning it on its head. Geoffrey tate, the late conductor, told an orchestra i was playing in, to think of each chord as a question waiting for an answer. My favorite explanation of the ending is that it is meant to represent eternity. The swan theme is gone. Now it's only left in our minds. All we have is the sky, the emptiness and the overwhelming silence and power of nature and the earth. And in a way, it's more satisfying. It builds on what came before and culminates in a tried and true, symphonic way. But that's not who sabilus was.
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