Beecham first performed Sibelius’s Symphony No. 4 in January 1935, giving a series of performances one of which was heard via the radio by the composer at his home in Finland. Sibelius’s ‘deep admiration for Beecham’s masterly conducting’ is documented in a letter to the producer Walter Legge. Although his first attempt to capture the symphony on disc, during three days in October and November 1937, met with a favourable response from the composer, Beecham decided to re-record the work. This definitive version, recorded in the course of one day, has always been regarded as a landmark of Sibelius interpretation.