The word ‘symphony’ evokes all that’s intimidating and difficult about classical music. Symphonies are often inordinately long, they swarm with complicated, many-layered sounds, and they’re puzzlingly divided into movements. How should one listen to them?

Ivan Hewett believes it is a question that cannot be answered: there is no ‘should’ when it comes to listening to a symphony. Instead, he offers a few signposts and helpful metaphors. The aim is to treat the symphony as a narrative in sound, to be savoured and enjoyed, rather than a code to be laboriously cracked.

Part of Sound Unbound