Browsing for background revealed the following pithy quote from Scott Fogelman. "In approaching Sibelius's Symphony No. 1 it's best to put aside mental images of Sibelius the Living Cultural Monument, that stone-like bald head of icily elegant demeanor. The Jean Sibelius of 1898 was a skinny redhead with volcanic talent, glittering intelligence, and an almost total lack of self-restraint or common sense. He drank, he smoked, he caroused, he borrowed. He seems to have been something of a party animal from the get-go. In 1891 his mother, fed up with a lack of letters from her ditzy son in Vienna and, fearing the worst, sent him a questionnaire containing a systematic cross-examination concerning his associates, his habits, and his diet. Jean, to his credit, dutifully returned it filled out (more or less) honestly. Although by 1898 he was a 33-year old husband and father, he doesn't seem to have changed his habits all that much; the composition of the First Symphony was momentarily derailed after his having been embroiled in a boozy brawl with a group of Polish street workers."
By the end of 1898 Sibelius was immersed in the composition of his First Symphony. As well as being a time of political tension in Finland, Sibelius was concerned with the seeming lack of regard for his music as he noted in his diary, "Autumn sun and bitter thoughts. How willingly I would have sacrificed some of the financial support I have received if I only had some sympathy and understanding of my art - if someone loved my work. O, you slave of your moods, their plaything." This situation was to change almost immediately: his first symphony was very well received with the Helsinki Philharmonic adopting it as a mainstay of its turn-of-the-century European tour. He shortly afterwards accepted a commission to write incidental music for a staging of a set of patriotic tableaux aimed at raising national awareness. Sibelius' music for the fourth of these, originally called Finland Awakes became known as Finlandia, was an immediate international hit and is still one of his most played works. In spite of this public praise and recognition, he was not fully happy with his First Symphony revising the work thoroughly into the version that we know today. The original score is lost preventing the opportunity for any revealing research.
Much has been said on the influence of Tchaikovsky on Sibelius' early music, but there is an individual and original voice to Sibelius' First Symphony clearly evident in the opening poignant clarinet solo which floats over the distant rumblings of a timpani roll. The meat of the movement is energetic and full of delightful melodic and rhythmic motifs. The thoughtful melody that starts the second movement alternates with strongly stated material but is never far from the forefront of the music. One could be forgiven for thinking that the third movement Scherzo had slipped back an age in its likeness to a typical Beethoven movement until the arrival at the almost static second section - a highly original stroke. The clarinet's ruminations at the beginning of the symphony are transformed and elevated as the final movement starts with a bold statement of the same notes. A brisk bustling of activity leads to a passage of deep yearning before the piece strikes off with even more gusto. A return to the rapturous melody precedes an ending of almost ecstatic intensity.