“The gestation of the [8th] symphony may have been long and troubled, but Sibelius had, at various times, referred to his manuscript as ‘brilliant,’ ‘a great work in the making,’ a piece that would have been ‘the reckoning of [his] whole existence.’ For so long, he had had but one desire: to finish the piece before drifting off ‘to the final silence.’ Why, then, did Sibelius destroy such a highly anticipated and promising work? This remains one of the most perplexing questions in all of music history.”