Some symphonies are famous for their openings, but others are more often remembered for their ENDINGS. In Helsinki, Finland, on today's date in 1921, composer Jean Sibelius conducted the definitive version of his Fifth Symphony, a work that features unforgettable and highly unusual closing pages. Sibelius had been tinkering with this symphony for five years. He completed the first version in 1915, then one year later introduced a radically revised version. Three years after that, in 1919, he adjusted his adjustments. At that point, he seems to have waited to see if he was well and truly satisfied. Two years passed, nothing more came to mind that needing fixing, and so, on today's date in 1921, the version that we hear today in concert halls around the world had its premiere performance. We can only imagine how stunned audiences at the first performances of Sibelius' Fifth must have been by the work's finale, when, like some huge machine coming to rest, the orchestra grinds out six jagged unison chords, set off by dramatic pauses of total silence.