The first recording featured the Finnish conductor Robert Kajanus and the London Symphony Orchestra, for the HMV label in June 1932.

The Third, however, shows a distinct, almost Classical desire to contain the largest amount of musical material in the fewest possible melodic figures, harmonies, and durations.

[4] The piece is scored for an orchestra including 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in B♭ and A), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (in F), 2 trumpets (in B♭), 3 trombones, timpani, and strings.

The symphony opens with a strident and rhythmic melody in the celli and double basses, after the announcement of which the brass and the remaining strings enter in turn.

The C–F♯ tritone, which plays such an important role in both this and the next symphony, is clearly articulated and emphasised as early as the beginning of bar 15 by a rinforzando marking.

After this rush of sound, the gentle serenity of the opening is recalled by the celli once again, but this time in a more vulnerable and sostenuto manner in the more remote key of B minor.

The tension grows and finally explodes into the opening theme, underscored by timpani, the violins playing over a pulsating cushion of brass-and-woodwind chorales and offbeat pizzicatos in the cellos.