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‘The English like vogues for this and that. Now it\u2019s Sibelius<\/a><\/strong>, and when they\u2019re tired of him they\u2019ll boost up Bruckner<\/a><\/strong> and Mahler<\/a><\/strong>.\u2019 Frederick Delius\u2019s remark, made in the early 1930s, turned out to be prophetic. Sibelius\u2019s music was then at the zenith of its fame and popularity, and his status as one of the great composers<\/a> <\/strong>seemingly beyond contradiction. <\/p> Sure enough, one of those Anglo-Saxon weathervane-like swings of fashion set in with a vengeance. Three decades later, Bruckner\u2019s and Mahler\u2019s symphonies<\/a><\/strong>, relative rarities before, had become the standard box-office material they remain today. And Sibelius? His music\u2019s situation is strange indeed.<\/p> Top five Sibelius works<\/a><\/strong> <\/p> There is a huge recorded legacy, crowned by BIS\u2019s monumental complete Sibelius Edition. But performances today tend to focus on a small core of works. The Second and Fifth Symphonies, with their expansive manner and rousing perorations, seem to fit the bill. The same goes for Finlandia<\/i>; and the Violin Concerto\u2019s post-Romantic virtuosity ensures its appeal to leading soloists. Yet outside specially presented Sibelius cycles, of the kind occurring during his 150th anniversary year, most of his large output remains quite hard to come across in the concert hall.<\/p>Why isn’t there more Sibelius in the concert repertoire? <\/h2>