In the second of two films exploring the life and music of Jean Sibelius, celebrated filmmaker Christopher Nupen covers the period from the fourth symphony to the unfinished eighth. At the peak of his career Sibelius was hailed by almost every leading critic and composer in England as the greatest symphonist of the twentieth century. The words are provided almost entirely by Sibelius himself and his wife Aino and the music by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Elisabeth Soderstrom and Boris Belkin with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.