Last night (21 May) I attended a concert by the KwaZulu Natal
Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban.  (This always means an 80km late night
drive back to Pietermaritzburg).  They played Peer Gynt 1, Grieg's piano
concerto and then Sibelius' Symphony 4.  I listened to my CD recording
of the latter twice before going, and I wonder what listers think of
this work.  I find it pleasant to listen to, but very odd.  It comes
from a man who does not worry what his audience might think, for coming
from a lesser soul an audience might boo.  There is no strong theme,
snatches of unrelated passages, an abrupt end that one thinks Jean decided
'Well I'm fed up with this, off to the publisher today', the use of
'Glocken' (could apparently be glockenspiel or bells) for nice but
unmotivated four-note passages.  Or am I missing something here?

Gerhard
http://skoongrappies.com

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