Discovering Music

Stephen Johnson explores Sibelius's 5th Symphony in E flat. In his diary at about the time he was sketching the symphony, Sibelius wrote that he wanted to compare the musical thoughts and motifs of the symphony to the rivulets of a river proceeding to the sea. Stephen Johnson considers this idea, illustrated by extracts and a performance of the work by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Pietari Inkinen. The programme also includes extracts from the original version of the work from 1915.