Jean Sibelius - Symphony No. 4 (1911) w/score

Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 63 (1911)
I. Tempo molto moderato, quasi adagio (0:00)
II. Allegro molto vivace (9:45)
III. Il tempo largo (14:17)
IV. Allegro (24:35)
Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

[@thinkOfMeAsAClassicalMusician]

It’s such a great symphony

[@porkyminch5131]

Fun fact: this is the only Sibelius' symphony which uses glockenspiel.

[@thinkOfMeAsAClassicalMusician]

In a neeme jarvi recording i heard rhenither day they used something that sounded more like chimes and sounded amazing. In this score it’s actually written “glocken” which means bells in general if I m correct. But I don’t know what he actually wrote or wanted

[@tubularificationed]

​@@thinkOfMeAsAClassicalMusician(German here) yes you are right 🙂 "glocken" means bells, as in church tower bells. 😉 If a composer sais "glocken", then he certainly doesn't want to hear a high-pitched "glockenspiel", nor the other way round.
There's a potential catch though. Sibelius' mother tongue was Swedish, and word "glocken" is also used in Swedish, where it seems to be used also for high-pitched things like a bicycle bell, or a door bell.
So it is a bit uncertain what Sibelius wanted. Possibly he had role models such as Mahler with regards to using concert "glocken", which then would be something more sizeable, as we know from Mahler's symphonies?
Be it as it may, I always felt a glockenspiel doesn't fit in when it is used, it somehow sounds wrong and misplaced and almost ridicules the music a little. I always think of Brahms then, who frowned upon using triangles as acoustical gimmicks in orchestral music. Proper "glocken" would be a bit more appropriate here?

[@thinkOfMeAsAClassicalMusician]

@@tubularificationed thank you for your interesting insight! I have listened to more recordings now and definitely prefer the ones which use bells instead of glockenspiel

[@beul_andand]

I : 00:01 - 09:45

[@jabber12345]

Again. We have another conductor slowing down the end of the 4th movement when there is no indication anywhere in the score that a ritard should occur anywhere at the end.
It's too bad becuase this is otherwise an fine performance but the ending is ruined by tempo decisions that shouldn't be there.