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http://www.sibelius.fi/english/musiikki/ork_sinf_02.htm
The second symphony is the most popular and most frequently recorded of Sibelius's symphonies. It is more skilfully orchestrated than the first symphony. The ideas of form are more mature and the violent Finnish gloom is replaced by a more classical touch and by the light of the Mediterranean.
The heroic and optimistic first and final movements of the symphony were exactly what the Finnish public needed in 1902, during a period of Russian oppression. The first public performance consolidated Sibelius's fame as a national hero. Soon the symphony was also triumphantly acclaimed abroad.