Cocktail Party Fact: Jean Sibelius composed his Third Symphony on a commission from the British composer Granville Bantock. Although premiered in Finland, it was performed in London soon afterward with Sibelius conducting, thus beginning England’s long national obsession with the Finnish master.

Commitment Factor: About 26 minutes.

Vital Statistics: Romantic period. A symphony in three movements.

What to Listen For: For the most part, the Third Symphony lacks the dramatic highs and lows we might expect after listening to its two expansive predecessors. And there is no awe-inspiring Sibelian landscape painting: we seem to have moved from the mountains and lakes back to the village. But the music has an irresistible charm all its own. The sunny first movement is in clear sonata form — unusual for Sibelius — and it has many folksong-like passages. The second movement features a minor-key waltz. With its repetitions of a single rhythmic and melodic pattern, it anticipates the middle movement of the composer’s Fifth Symphony. The third movement starts with an Italianate scherzo and concludes with a brilliant peroration in the grand Sibelian manner.