# The Sibelius Symphonies - #3 in C



## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

It is my opinion that with the 3rd, Sibelius finally got into his stride as a symphonist in that it he has moved away from the more grandiose first two and we see the all the earmarks of the later works. While it may not be the favourite of many, it definitely is mine.

I have either have the following in my collection or have listened to them recently...
(in alphabetic order)

Barbirolli / Halle - 1969 Proms performance
Blomstedt / San Francisco Symphony
Davis / Boston Symphony
Gibson / Scottish National
Rattle / Berlin Philharmonic - Live from the 2011 cycle

All of them are good but some are better than good.

- For a long time the Davis/BSO was my favourite but was recently superceded by Gibson's where he seems to get everything just right. Gibson grabs you by the collar in the last movement and doesn't let go!
- I have heard the Davis/LSO Live but have no particular recollection of it.
- The Blomstedt is ok but a bit underwhelming.
- I would put Rattle's efforts in the middle of the pack, a solid B/B+ (I have not heard his studio recording.)
- I was really impressed by Barbirolli's live Proms performance. Although the recording seems a bit recessed at the start but does improve and ends with a great roar of approval from the audience. (I have his 's studio Halle on vinyl but haven't listened to it in years.)

As to favourites, it remains the Gibson now followed closely by Barbirolli/Proms.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Ashkenazy also delivers with more tension and energy at the end than others. I like the low strings with Barbirolli / Halle. I favor Berglund with Helsinki by a shade over Bournemouth but they're both fine.

The second movement is a tune I can hear a lot and never get tired of. I tend to think of the 3rd as a precursor to the 5th, but others might not hear that.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Listening to #3 now, a favorite of mine. Kamu, from his most excellent complete set.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

philoctetes said:


> ...The second movement is a tune I can hear a lot and never get tired of. I tend to think of it as a precursor to the 5th, but others might not hear that.


I can certainly hear that. I also connect it with the "Dance of Pairs" from Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra.


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

philoctetes said:


> Ashkenazy also delivers with more tension and energy at the end than others. I like the low strings with Barbirolli / Halle. I favor Berglund with Helsinki by a shade over Bournemouth but they're both fine.
> 
> The second movement is a tune I can hear a lot and never get tired of. I tend to think of the 3rd as a precursor to the 5th, but others might not hear that.


So glad that someone other than myself likes Ashkenazy's Sibelius 3! His account has been a long time favourite of mine. 

For me, Sibelius 3 is his heroic symphony. Apart from Ashkenazy, Saraste's live 93 account is also excellent, especially in the finale where he has made so much sense of the constant searching and the final unison. Mravinsky's live 63 account is "strange" in the sense that while it is electrifying throughput, the heartbreaking 2nd movement is rather compromised.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

This is among my favorite Sibelius symphonies yet I find few of the famous ones do it for me. Two that do are less talked about:

Okko Kamu and Radio Symphony Orchestra Helsinki

Yevgeny Mravinsky and Leningrad Philharmonic on a super audio CD from Praga linked to the 7th symphony.

These two performances could hardly be more different. Kamu is stream of consciousness, forward motion and few hysterics. Mravinsky is all tension and drive and Toscanini-like vision. How they work so well is still a mystery to me.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

^ I don't know that Mravinsky but would love to hear it. I do know the Kamu and agree that it is a good one. 

Sibelius 3 is fine work and one I always enjoy returning to. Rozhdestvensky does it really well in his set. It is true that the Colin Davis from Boston is a lovely account, that Gibson has given us a really good one and that it is also one of Ashkenazy's best. I'm not sure I have been that taken by the live Barbirolli. I'll have to find the space to listen to it again to be sure.

Edit - I'm listening to the live Barbirolli and I was wrong. I remember it now and it is a very fine performance. The Nielsen 4 that it is coupled which is not so good I think (unless I've remembered that wrong, too).


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## Hermastersvoice (Oct 15, 2018)

I always wondered why Karajan, such a fine Sibelian, avoided the 3rd, on record anyway. Does anybody know?


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

I love Sibelius' 3rd: as others have said, it's the authentic Sibelius emerging from Late Romantic influences. I can understand the elderly Rimsky Korsakov's indignation at the premiere.
Performances? A chacun son gout, but I think Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra get to the essence of the piece.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Okko Kamu with the Helsinki Radio Symphony is my top choice in this work.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Sibelius Sym #3 is really excellent....it shows a marked change in the composer's ideas of form and development....
I esp love the 2nd mvt...a very lovely tune, and he does such creative variations with the bass line....The finalwe is excellent, the closing section quite concise and definitely to the point.

2 favorites:

Maazel/VPO is very good, excellent first mvt, the last mvt is a little bit lacking, but overall, very good....

Bernstein/NYPO - the best of them....really heroic....tremendous sonorities - and Lenny brings out the small details n true Reiner-esque fashion - listen how he highlights those passing tone figures at the cadences in the in the final chorale - first in the celli, then in trombone II....really brings them out!! 

I recently acquired Marvinsky #3, with #7.....wasn't real impressed, not bad, but not at the top - will give it some more attention....


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Pat Fairlea said:


> I love Sibelius' 3rd: as others have said, it's the authentic Sibelius emerging from Late Romantic influences. I can understand the elderly Rimsky Korsakov's indignation at the premiere.
> Performances? A chacun son gout, but I think Vanska and the Minnesota Orchestra get to the essence of the piece.


Yes, the second Vanska is another excellent one, almost a must hear for those who like this symphony as much as I do. As for _chacun a son gout_, true enough but it does seem that those who have heard a good number of the options are choosing fairly similarly on this one.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Indeed a great symphony! I was surprised by how much I liked it on first hearing, expecting to get one of the "minor" Sibelius symphonies, if such a thing exists. The only version I've heard is Berglund/Bournemouth. I'm thinking of getting the Barbirolli/Hallé cycle too just to have contrasting accounts of each symphony. I seem to really enjoy the Romantic/non-Finnish approach to Sibelius pretty well too. Karajan never recorded this one, did he?


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

_I always wondered why Karajan, such a fine Sibelian, avoided the 3rd, on record anyway. Does anybody know?_

I don't; Ormandy, similar to Karajan a great exponent (and trusted friend) of Sibelius who recorded most of his symphonies -- some a couple times -- said he didn't record it because hd didn't understand it. It seems hard for me to believe anyone that grasps the 4th and 7th wouldn't understand the 3rd but that's what he said.

As it relates to Karajan, the 3rd is more classically inclined than others and it represented for the composer a step away from the high caloric orchestrations of Richard Strauss and others of his time. Not sure if this mattered to Karajan; everyone knows he loved to bathe in drama and symphonic color. There isn't a lot of either in the Sibelius 3rd symphony.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

_Indeed a great symphony! I was surprised by how much I liked it on first hearing, expecting to get one of the "minor" Sibelius symphonies, if such a thing exists._

Prior to the advent of Mahler becoming a household name in the late 20th century, Sibelius was considered the greatest symphonist since Beethoven in some quarters. He doesn't have any "minor" symphonies though it takes many (including me) a lot of years to grasp and understand everything but Nos. 1, 2 and 5 that are all fairly easy to understand intially.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

larold said:


> _Indeed a great symphony! I was surprised by how much I liked it on first hearing, expecting to get one of the "minor" Sibelius symphonies, if such a thing exists._
> 
> Prior to the advent of Mahler becoming a household name in the late 20th century, Sibelius was considered the greatest symphonist since Beethoven in some quarters. He doesn't have any "minor" symphonies though it takes many (including me) a lot of years to grasp and understand everything but Nos. 1, 2 and 5 that are all fairly easy to understand intially.


Yes, Sibelius' symphonic output is indeed a very great achievement. They are all wonderful, the only exception for me is #6...I just don't get it....doesn't seem to go anywhere....hey, everyone hits a foul ball one occasion!!


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## Guest (May 31, 2019)

Heck148 said:


> Yes, Sibelius' symphonic output is indeed a very great achievement. They are all wonderful, the only exception for me is #6...I just don't get it....doesn't seem to go anywhere....hey, everyone hits a foul ball one occasion!!


Funny - the 6th is my favourite. I listen to the first three infrequently, making it hard for me to pick out my 'favourite' 3rd. I'll listen again today - I've got Segerstam/HPO; Davis/LSO Live; Berglund/BSO.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

S


Kiki said:


> So glad that someone other than myself likes Ashkenazy's Sibelius 3! His account has been a long time favourite of mine.
> 
> For me, Sibelius 3 is his heroic symphony. Apart from Ashkenazy, Saraste's live 93 account is also excellent, especially in the finale where he has made so much sense of the constant searching and the final unison. Mravinsky's live 63 account is "strange" in the sense that while it is electrifying throughput, the heartbreaking 2nd movement is rather compromised.


Saraste has always been my favorite here


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## Guest (May 31, 2019)

Heck148 said:


> Sibelius Sym #3 is really excellent....it shows a marked change in the composer's ideas of form and development....
> I esp love the 2nd mvt...a very lovely tune, and he does such creative variations with the bass line....The finalwe is excellent, the closing section quite concise and definitely to the point.
> 
> 2 favorites:
> ...


It took me awhile to appreciate Sibelius, but I am simply haunted by the slow movement of this symphony. It has given me terrible ear worm on more than one occasion. I have the Colin Davis/LSO recording.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

I recently listened to and purchased Kurt Sanderling's Sibelius Third with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra---a very nicely nuanced and satisfying pesentation.


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