It is easy to view Sibelius's symphonies as a process through which the composer arrived at his ultimate embodiment of the form in the ultra-condensed single-movement Seventh. The reality, however, is somewhat different, as the final concert of the BBCSSO's Sibelius symphony cycle showed. With renowned Sibelius interpreter Leif Segerstam on the podium, the orchestra performed the composer's last three symphonies. Here the emphasis was on contrast, with the craggy expanse of the Fifth as distinct from the quicksilver emotions of the Seventh as it was from the pastoral warmth of the Sixth.

Segerstam's approach to Sibelius, as embodied in his performance of the Fifth Symphony, is in many ways a classic view of the composer. Where other conductors have sought to bring more ebb and flow on a melodic level, Segerstam deals in blocks of sound every bit as granite-hewn and unyielding as the Sibelius cliches suggest his music to be. At times, this lack of flexibility was to the symphony's disadvantage, but there were compensations: the detail brought to the performance and the supreme control with the explosive closing chords were wrought by a taut, responsive BBCSSO.

The ravishing account of the Sixth made the deepest impression of the performance, Segerstam giving the work a sense of solidity beneath the lushly saturated string sound.

Following this, the concentrated Seventh seemed like a bold experiment in symphonic form. After three such different works, how would Sibelius's much-mooted Eighth have sounded? We will never know, but Segerstam's account certainly made you wonder.