# Sibelius Symphonies, Tone Poems, etc.



## World Violist

I'm trying to buy CD's of Sibelius pieces. Any recordings that you think are great recordings of Sibelius' music?


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## EricIsAPolarBear

I purchased Sibelius The Complete Symphonies with Sir Colin Davis and Boston Orchestra on iTunes, it was a great deal, i started with 1,2,4, and 5. The recording of 2 on this i find particularly enjoyable as compared to the other recording i have witht he Cleveland orchestra (much too fast). I'm afraid I'm not the most knowledgable on this, so i'll leave it to the other forum members, just note that as a sibelius beginner i was well rewarded with this collection.


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## BuddhaBandit

Get the "Great Performances" series disc with Eddie Grieg's Peer Gynt Suites coupled with Sibelius' Finlandia, Valse Triste, and Swan of Tuonela. They're conducted by Lenny Bernstein, who, as usual, does a great job. I can't tell you much about good recordings for the symphonies, as I don't usually listen to Sibelius symphonies.


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## World Violist

Eric the Polar Bear: I have the second set of CD's of which you speak, and they are pretty good. Does anyone know anything about Lorin Maazel's way of conducting Sibelius? I've heard it's pretty good. I'm looking at his recording with the Vienna Philharmonic of the entire symphonies.


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## Guest

I like Maazel's Sibelius very much.

I never understood all the hoopla about Davis' set. It's okay, but nothing special.

If you want the original version of the fifth, there's only one set, the Osmo Vänskä. Fortunately, it's a pretty good set. Some people prefer it over all the others.

I like the Berglund _Kullervo_ very much. I haven't liked what I've heard of the Salonen or the Davis enough to buy them, too. There are a whole fistful of others, including one by Osmo Vänskä, though that's not part of the "complete" set.

For the tone poems, I have the Gibson on Chandos, which I like a lot, though I'd prefer a more visceral _Pohjola's Daughter._ I haven't bothered to look into other recordings of that, though.

Best advice, generally, is to wait for Kurkikohtaus to respond to this thread. He's as close to a Sibelius expert as any of us is likely to ever meet! As close as we're ever likely to need, for that matter.


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## david johnson

get to two double disc offerings on emi with berglund/helsinki
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...ole2=3&label_id=1085&bcorder=361&comp_id=2777
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...ole2=3&label_id=1085&bcorder=361&comp_id=2785

(#1) on both links

or- the sanderling box

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical...d2=56511&name_role2=3&bcorder=31&comp_id=2777

dj


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## World Violist

I just bought the Maazel set of symphonies, they sound great so far. I was about to get the Berglund double disc things, but I didn't quite have the money; I was getting something else as well. I'll go back one of these days and get the Berglund, though, I've heard really good things about his interpretations.


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## Chi_townPhilly

We all know that the _adult_ among us is eavesdropping on our bed-time whispers, right?

O.K.: Here goes. My "7-pack" is the Philharmonia/Ashkenazy set. I'm glad I picked it up; although I must confess to some disappointment with Number 2. Fortunately, I have a Philadelphia Orchestra version of 2 which I believe to be fantastic. I've read some lashing criticism of Philharmonia's version of 5, but I thought it was good.

Ormandy/Philadelphia Sibelius performances have come in for occasional brick-bats, as well, but among the people who expressed admiration for their way with Sibelius included... the composer himself.

Was he just trying to be polite? I think he really meant what he said.


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## Ephemerid

BuddhaBandit said:


> Get the "Great Performances" series disc with Eddie Grieg's Peer Gynt Suites coupled with Sibelius' Finlandia, Valse Triste, and Swan of Tuonela. They're conducted by Lenny Bernstein, who, as usual, does a great job. I can't tell you much about good recordings for the symphonies, as I don't usually listen to Sibelius symphonies.


 Oh yeah, that's a a really good one! His recording of the Swan was a real eye-- er, ear-opener when I first heard this on LP as a teenager...

Ages ago I owned an LP record set of all of Sibelius' symphonies recorded by the Utah Symphony Orchestra that I used to play constantly...


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## chris hall

*Petr Sakari on Naxos etc*

I have recently become acquainted with the Sibelius series on Naxos with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Petri Sakari on Naxos. They are superb. The problem with Maazel, Colin Davis et al is that that they conduct Sibelius as if he was a Central European romanic when the most striking and exhiliarating side to the composer is his clarity of utterance and feeling. His debates with Mahler as to the nature of the symphony as a form were quite uncompromising in this respect when he celebrated the sparse and the cogent in contrast to Mahler's expansive universalism.

For the necessary bracing and fresh-aired aesthetic to fully communicate the strings must not exude the luscious sensuality of beloved of non-Scandinavian orchestras (so effective in post-Wagnerian works) but have a truly linear texture that allows the other instruments, especially the woodwind, to be heard to their maximum extent, and not be swamped by voluptuousness.

The Icelandic orchestra achieve this to perfection: more so than actual Finnish counterparts, (who sound increasingly like their more southerly neighbours to my ears) and the utterly idiomatic authenticity of their conductor ensures a direct link to the composer's original vision.

These comments apply as much to the discs of tone-poems as to the symphonies, Indeed, the combintaion of orchestra and conductor have recorded the Palleas and Melisande music on Chandos, which makes a perfect supplement to the Naxos series.


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## World Violist

I'll look it up, thanks!


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## chris hall

*Sakari Sibelius*

If you go to the Naxos website you can hear excerpts from these recordings


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## World Violist

I actually just bought the Iceland Symphony/Sakari Naxos CD with Finlandia, the Karelia Suite, and the Four Legends (Lemminkainen Suite).


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## chris hall

*Sibelius poems*

Well done. I would be interested in your comments. I think the performances are splendid.


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## World Violist

They are very good. Finlandia, though, is the only one I've been able to hear other recordings of... for obvious reasons. I kind of like Ormandy's Finlandia better; there is a huge amount of drama in the opening section that isn't quite fully there, in my opinion, with the Iceland. The performances are very solid and convincing, though. Excellent stuff.

Does anyone know who made a recording of Finlandia with the chorus? Even though Sibelius himself didn't like it, I'd like to hear it. Just for kicks.


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## anon2k2

As Sibelius is one of my favorites, I own a number of recordings of the symphonies. I own two complete sets, the Philharmonia/Ashkenazy, and the LSO/Davis which is newer than the older BSO recordings.

I also own a bunch of individual ones, including 2,3,6 with BSO/Davis, and 5 with Levine, Jansons, Rattle, Szell, and on and on.

I really like both of Davis' sets. Sometimes I feel like Ashkenazy has better individual movements than Davis, but he also has ones that are worse. Davis seems to be much more consistent through the cycle. That's also true of the recording quality.


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## Chi_townPhilly

Today, on the way to my public-transit park, the morning radio had the _Karelia Suite_. I was first exposed to this piece via (wait for it)... Keith Emerson & The Nice.

In related news, I noticed that February's *BBC Music* magazine had the Hallé Orchestra playing Sibelius 3 as a "gimme disc" attached to the magazine. If you don't have this work, it might be worth picking up, even if it happens to be an indifferent version, no?!


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## World Violist

I just got the eight-disc set of Sibelius symphonies and tone poems by Paavo Berglund and the Helsinki Phil and am utterly entranced by it. Don't be surprised if I never log in until April or so.


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## BuddhaBandit

I just finished listening to a borrowed copy of the Karajan/Kamu cycle... first time that I've heard all the symphonies at one time. Really wonderful stuff; what surprised me was how much Sibelius' early efforts followed in the steps of the great Classical-era symphonies. From No. 4, you can really see some progressiveness in his writing.


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## Rondo

BuddhaBandit said:


> I just finished listening to a borrowed copy of the Karajan/Kamu cycle... first time that I've heard all the symphonies at one time. Really wonderful stuff; what surprised me was how much Sibelius' early efforts followed in the steps of the great Classical-era symphonies. From No. 4, you can really see some progressiveness in his writing.


This one by any chance?


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## Cyclops

I have one CD of Sibelius, it has Finlandia,Valse Triste,Karelia Suite, The Swan of Tuonela and Pohjohlah's Daughter. I found the disk for sale somewhere years ago,I've not heard of the label before,(Cirrus Digital Classics/Castle Communications) but its a respectable sounding recording, being the London symphony Orchestra under Gennadi Rozhdetvensky.


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## Moldyoldie

World Violist said:


> Does anyone know who made a recording of Finlandia with the chorus? Even though Sibelius himself didn't like it, I'd like to hear it. Just for kicks.


The only recording of which I'm aware is that by the Helsinki Philharmonic conducted by Leif Segerstam on the Ondine label.


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## Badinerie

For the Short works like Finlandia and Karelia ect I like Barbirolli with the Halle. Gibson and the Scottish National are wonderful too. I have Simon Rattle and the City of Birmingham performing Symphony no 2 which is cool. Also the Naxos Symphony no 5 cd is great Slovak Phil conducted by the wonderfully named Adrian Leaper. Sibelius really got me into symphonies via his tone poems when I was a teenager.Wonderfull stuff. Ive just put Adrian Boult's LSO Finlandia on my turntable as I type.


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## BuddhaBandit

@ Rondo- Indeed, that's the one! Karajan far outshines Kamu, by the way...


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## Ludovyk

Badinerie said:


> For the Short works like Finlandia and Karelia ect I like Barbirolli with the Halle.


Hello to everybody! This is my first contribution to these talks  
I think Barbirolli is one of the greatest in this repertoire, for the symphonies as well as for the minor works. His set with the Halle on EMI is splendid, but I also remember the 2nd with Royal Philharmonic, intense and beautifully played..
Single interpretations I would like to mention are Bernstein's 2nd with Vienna, and Karajan's Pelleas (DG) and En Saga (EMI), electrifying...
In my opinion, Davis and Berglund are always a good choice for Sibelius.


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## marval

Hello Ludovyk

Welcome to the forum

Glad to see you join in


Margaret


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