The Greatest Symphonist of the 20th Century?

Club member Jenny Parker posed this question at our meeting on 28 November. He was hailed in the early 20th Century as the greatest living symphonist by many English composers. He was hugely popular in America, but with changes in critical tastes he was relegated to a minor figure by the middle of the 20th Century. He was of course the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius who, like Elgar in England, reinvigorated music in his native country.

Jenny illustrated her talk with many selections from Sibelius' works, including from his symphonies, the violin concerto and of course his most famous single piece Finlandia.