# Sibelius Symphony 7 Best Recordings



## bz3 (Oct 15, 2015)

Big fan of this symphony but I only really know Bernstein, Karajan, Ashkenazy, Segerstram, Collins and Berglund. My favorite is probably the Segerstram but I'd like to know if there are any outstanding ones I'm missing out on.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

You've heard some of the great ones. There is a historical one that I think all Sibelians should be familiar with: Koussevitsky. A tremendous reading that demonstrates clearly that Koussevitsky was no amateur hack. Here's a good review: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/feb05/sibelius_koussevitzky.htm


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

Barbirolli and Gibson are my favorites not listed in the OP. This is one of my all-time favorite works and I'm constantly fascinated by the kaleidoscopic variety of interpretations it can withstand.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Bernstein is best, imo...Mravinsky is good, too...Rozh'sky/USSR is unique - it's very good, and the trombone solo has to be heard to be believed!! lol!!
Maazel/VPO is another good one.


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

I have so many of them… The 7th Symphony tolerates a wider variety of interpretations than, say, the 3rd or the 4th.

Karajan, Davis/BSO, Saraste/RSO, Berglund/Bournemouth, Maazel/VPO, Bernstein, Koussevitsky

They come to mind.


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## vincula (Jun 23, 2020)

Many great one's have already been named. I've got a personal soft spot for this rare live rendition. I came across this rare record by chance many moons ago and have had it in high regard ever since.









Regards,

Vincula


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## Waehnen (Oct 31, 2021)

I was so thrilled by the Barbirolli 3rd that I listened to Barbirolli 7th just now. Wow! What a maestro! For some reason I have not listened to his Sibelius before.


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## vincula (Jun 23, 2020)

I was introduced to Sibelius by Barbirolli. Glorious (John) old vinyl I inherited from my uncle :angel: 

Regards,

Vincula


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Waehnen said:


> I was so thrilled by the Barbirolli 3rd that I listened to Barbirolli 7th just now. Wow! What a maestro! For some reason I have not listened to his Sibelius before.


My favorite Barbirolli Sibelius is the "Karelia Suite", and Leminkainen's Return with Halle...beautifully paced, with lots of snap and momentum...the swaggering, knee-lifting "A La Marcia" is most appealing....Leminkainen receives a virile, driving return...with Halle Orch fully alert, just jumping all over the syncopations....Toscanini/NBC ['40] has the same attributes, but Sir John benefits from better recorded sound quality.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

bz3 writes, "Big fan of this symphony but I only really know Bernstein, Karajan, Ashkenazy, Segerstram, Collins and Berglund. My favorite is probably the Segerstram but I'd like to know if there are any outstanding ones I'm missing out on."

That depends on which Berglund & Segerstam Sibelius 7ths you've heard?, since Berglund recorded the symphony at least four times, and Segerstam has recorded it at least twice.

Up until 1980 (& to my mind, well beyond that), no conductor understood the score of the Sibelius 7th better than Paavo Berglund. After all he was the one that in 1957 discovered that Sibelius's original Hansen edition conducting score of the 7th was still in the possession of the Helsinki Philharmonic, and found that the parts were full of the composer's handwritten corrections. In the other words, the 1st publisher had made a profusion of mistakes or misprints. And, unfortunately, this bad edition turned out to be the one that all conductors, with the exception of Berglund, used to conduct the 7th prior to 1980--when, under Berglund's guidance, the new, revised Hansen edition of the 7th came out, with the original publisher's mistakes corrected. Nevertheless, the ever self-critical Berglund wasn't happy with the 1980 Hansen edition, either, & kept working to improve it over the years that followed.

Here's the initial story recounted in Berglund's own words, spoken in an interview with the Finnish Music Quarterly,

"I conducted Sibelius' Seventh Symphony with the Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1956, but it didn't really work out. The next year, I conducted it with the Helsinki Philharmonic, and it went better. I noticed that the Philharmonic played from parts that Sibelius had corrected himself, while the Radio Symphony played from parts with the original printing errors. That is when I understood how important it was to make sure that the parts were up to date!"*

Therefore, if you wish to hear Sibelius's corrected score of the 7th, that puts a lot of highly regarded analogue & mono recordings made prior to 1980 off the table & out of contention: such as the 7ths by Karajan--on DG & EMI, Ormandy--on RCA & Columbia/Sony, Bernstein--Columbia/Sony, Beecham, Barbirolli, Koussevitsky, Maazel Vienna, Collins, Gibson 1965, etc.. With the one exception of Berglund's Bournemouth Symphony 7th for EMI, which was recorded in the 1970s, after Berglund had discovered the numerous errors in the score corrected by Sibelius.

For me, the question of a top choice therefore becomes more about deciding which are the best Sibelius 7ths on record after the arrival of Berglund's new Hansen edition in 1980? or essentially, which are the best Sibelius 7ths of the digital era?

In my view, Berglund certainly deserves to be in that conversation, having devoted much of his career to the music of Sibelius, & especially given his long time obsession with the 7th. Indeed, Berglund recorded an unprecedented three Sibelius cycles (a number only equaled by Sir Colin Davis), plus, a final, nearly complete fourth live cycle at the Barbican Center in London in the 2000s. Which, in addition to his work on the revised Hansen edition, meant that he knew the score of the 7th inside & out, in great detail, and arguably as well as any conductor. & in my opinion, it shows in his performances.

The next question would be to consider which are the best of Berglund's four recordings of the Sibelius 7th? Well, they're all excellent (despite that I like the Helsinki 7th the least). However, Berglund had a reputation for being more exciting live in Sibelius in the concert hall than he was in the recording studio. I don't think this was always the case, since, for example, I slightly prefer Berglund's studio 2nd with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra to his live 2nd with London Philharmonic. But I do think it is true in regards to Berglund's live 7th with the London Philharmonic at the Barbican Center in London, which is one of the great Sibelius 7ths on record, & for me, the best of Berglund's four recordings of the 7th. Granted, Berglund does get so carried away during this live performance that he shouts out to his orchestra at one point, but his commitment is so intense that I hold these vocalizations to be as special as the performance itself.

So, for me, this is a very special 7th, & one of the treasures of my Sibelius collection. Which is not to say that Berglund's Bournemouth, Helsinki, & Chamber Orchestra of Europe 7ths aren't special, too, as they are, but if I had to pick one for my desert island, I'd choose this live Barbican account (along with the Bournemouth 7th, if possible).

The following are some You Tube links to the LPO recording, but unfortunately the person who posted the performance foolishly divided it up into four movements, which prevents the listener from hearing the performance as one continuous movement, which is how the symphony is written. So, it puts a damper on the Berglund's amazing ability to conduct the piece cohesively and seamlessly, as a one movement symphony, and takes away from the performance (not to mention Google's vulgar commercial interruptions during the performance):

--London Philharmonic, Berglund, live at the Barbican Center:

















--Bournemouth Symphony Orchester, Berglund on EMI (analogue):





--Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Berglund, on Finlandia (this cycle received a Diapason d'Or & "Choc de l'Année 1998" of Le Monde de la musique): 



--Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Berglund, on EMI (as noted, this is the weakest of Berglund's four 7ths, IMO): 




Next on my list of favorite 7ths are Leif Segerstam's two recordings from his two Sibelius cycles: the first with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra on Chandos, and the second with the Helsinki Philharmonic on Ondine. For a long time, I considered the Danish performance (& cycle) to be the better of the two; however, recently in regards to the 7th, I'm not so sure about this anymore. But, being a Sibelius nut, I wouldn't want to be without either 7th, as they're both great. I should also point out that the Helsinki Philharmonic was a relatively young orchestra when Berglund recorded his Sibelius cycle with them, & according to Berglund, inexperienced in Sibelius. However, by the time they came to record their 2nd cycle with Segerstam they had matured as an orchestra, & play better under Segerstam than they did for Berglund. As for the Danish NSO, they play very well for Segerstam, too, & IMO, are an underrated orchestra:

--Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Segerstam, on Chandos:





--Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestr, Segerstam, on Ondine:





Finally, the 3rd & last digital recording of the Sibelius 7th that I'd single out as special is conductor Sakari Oramo's account with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, on Erato. Oramo impressively conducts the whole score in great detail, & this is a sensitive, beautiful performance:

--City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo:





I've heard many other digital era recordings of the Sibelius 7th over the years, from numerous excellent conductors, such as Saraste twice, Kamu, Blomstedt, Bernstein Vienna, Gibson 1991, Storgards, N. Jarvi twice, Ashkenazy twice, Davis Boston, Vanska Lahti, Rattle twice,, etc., and while there are some very good 7ths among these performances, for me, none of them are preferable to Berglund's LPO live performance (or his Bournemouth & COE 7ths), or Segerstam's two recordings, or Oramo in Birmingham.

Although, with that said, there is currently a live Sibelius cycle being recorded by the Welsh conductor Owain Arwel Hughes & the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra that has started out impressively with excellent recordings of the Sibelius 1st & 3rd: 



. So, the Hughes cycle will likely be worth keeping an eye on when they get to the 7th. I also expect that we'll get a new Sibelius cycle from conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen at some point.

In addition, I recently watched music critic David Hurwitz's You Tube channel discussion on "the best Sibelius 7th", & was very surprised to find that he placed the 7th by conductor Petri Sakari and the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra at the top of his list, ahead of both Segerstam & Berglund!: 



. Afterwards, I listened to Sakari's Icelandic performance, & while it's certainly a good, detailed performance, it sounded slightly tentative & low key to me, at least, until the latter part of the symphony, & especially when compared to Berglund's more thrilling live Barbican account (& Segerstam's more majestic performances): which either Hurwitz doesn't know about, or he decided not to include it on his list in preference to Berglund's Bournemouth SO 7th (which is on the list).

I also don't entirely agree with Hurwitz concerning the "wretched excesses" and heavy (& at times dragging) slowness of Bernstein's Vienna Sibelius 7th. Despite that, yes, I would agree that Bernstein's more indulgent conducting during his later DG years doesn't always show him in his best light; at least, not in comparison to his often more tightly conducted, incisive, & dynamic earlier Columbia/Sony (& EMI) recordings. But I don't think his DG 7th is quite as bad a performance as Hurwitz does, & like having it in my collection purely as an alternative, albeit more drawn out view of the symphony; although, with that said, I would never recommend it to a 'newbie' as being one of the top choices for the 7th, because it's much too distorted a performance to use to get to know this symphony.

--Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein, DG--at 24:45 total minutes: 



--New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, Columbia/Sony--at 22:47 total minutes: 




By the way, Hurwitz also mentions Lorin Maazel's 1966 Sibelius 7th Vienna Philharmonic very favorably, which I don't know: 



, along with Karajan's 1960s DG 7th, Bernstein's earlier Columbia/Sony recording, & Ormandy's "interventionist" (as he calls it) Sony recording on his list of top recordings of the 7th.

*= https://fmq.fi/articles/sibelius-the-view-from-the-podium


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Questions abound regarding the Hansen corrected edition:

Were the corrections of notes themselves, their duration, ties, accents or other markings? 
When did Sibelius make those corrections? Were conductors aware of them and pass them around?
Did the Helsinki librarians make note of the errors and distribute them throughout the professional world? In the USA, MOLA (Major Orchestra Librarian Association) and the Conductor's Guild keep an enormous database of known errors and contentious issues for everything imaginable.
Are there any clearly audible corrections? If so, can you show us two different recordings and the MM:SS where they occur. I'm really curious because, for example, I've known the Maazel VPO version for decades. His newer one in Pittsburgh sounds the same - except for tempos of course. But maybe he used the original edition for both? Very interesting topic.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

mbhaub said:


> Questions abound regarding the Hansen corrected edition:
> 
> Were the corrections of notes themselves, their duration, ties, accents or other markings?
> When did Sibelius make those corrections? Were conductors aware of them and pass them around?
> ...


The history of the 7th is incomplete, but my understanding is that the composer's corrections first became known through Berglund--that is, within & eventually outside of Finland--when he wrote a paper on the subject in the late 1960s, entitled, "Comparative Study of the Printed Score and the Manuscript of the Seventh Symphony of Sibelius", which was published by the Sibelius Museum in Helsinki in 1970. This was the pamphlet that served as the basis for the revised 1980 Hansen Edition. So, that is where you'll most likely get answers to your question about the corrections themselves.

In addition, Chapter 11 in the "The Sibelius Companion" (edited by Glenda Dawn Goss) gives an introduction to the history of the manuscript & printed sources, as well. It was written by Kari Kilpeläinen--who is a leading authority on Sibelius & his scores, and the article has been translated and revised by James Hepokoski. The title of the chapter is "Sibelius's Seventh Symphony: an Introduction to the Manuscript and Printed Sources". Here's a link to a PDF of the book, & Kilpeläinen's chapter begins on page 239: https://jameshepokoski.com/wp-conte...Kilpelainen-on-Sibeliuss-Seventh-Symphony.pdf.

I don't think the corrections were known prior to Berglund's pamphlet, however, because when the young Simon Rattle recorded his first Sibelius cycle with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, he has said that Berglund was extremely helpful to him, offering him lots of detailed advice, & making "thousands of marks" on Rattle's conducting score.

In Rattles own words,

"Paavo was unbelievably friendly. When he heard that I was in the process of recording Sibelius' symphonies, he grabbed the score and began to shower me with advice. He spent several days helping me. He made thousands of marks on the score. Corrections of printing errors, suggestions for improving the balance, good ideas. I still have them. Did I use them? You think I'm crazy? I used everything!"*

At the time, Berglund's extensive markings were evidently all new information that Rattle had not seen before. Which would suggest that Rattle was still using the old Hansen Edition, even in the early to mid-1980s. So, he probably wasn't yet aware of the revised edition. Of course, in the early 1980s, the young Rattle likely had his hands full trying to build the City of Birmingham Orchestra into a world class orchestra, which he did remarkably well, rather than trying to stay up with the latest Finnish academic papers published by the Sibelius Museum: which may not have even been translated into English.

Moreover, Rattle's apparent lack of awareness in regards to what Berglund was showing him, may generally indicate what the situation was for all non-Finish speaking conductors in the 1980s. In other words, except for Berglund, there may have been a period of transition between when the revised Hansen Edition appeared in 1980, and when conductors outside of Finland actually began to conduct from it. However, I'm largely guessing about this; although, as noted, it does appear that Rattle didn't know about the new edition, based on his reaction to Berglund.

Plus, you say that Lorin Maazel's two recordings--his 1966 7th in Vienna and his 1990? or 1992? 7th in Pittsburgh--both sound like he is conducting from the same edition. If so, then Maazel wasn't likely working from the new edition in Pittsburgh, either (unless the differences are very subtle?) Which would add further confirmation that not all conductors were yet conducting from the new revised Hansen edition, even as late as the early 1990s...?

*The above quote is taken from the same Finnish Music Quarterly article that I mentioned in my previous post: Here's the link again: https://fmq.fi/articles/sibelius-the-view-from-the-podium


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## perdido34 (Mar 11, 2015)

Szell/Cleveland's in-concert performance of Sibelius 7 (Helsinki 1965) is outstanding and easily located on YouTube (it was never commercially issued).


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## hoodjem (Feb 23, 2019)

vincula said:


> I was introduced to Sibelius by Barbirolli. Glorious (John) old vinyl I inherited from my uncle 👼
> 
> Regards,
> Vincula


And don't overlook the glorious Sibelius second by Barbirolli and the RPO, on Chesky/Quintessence.

One of the very best!


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Beecham with the Royal PO is excellent, surprising that this one hasn't been highlighted yet....


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

One of my favorites hasn't been mentioned yet: Kurt Sanderling with the Berlin SO, part of his complete cycle on Berlin Classics or Brilliant Classics.
As always with Sanderling, his interpretations emphazise the darker moods and colors of Sibelius. That doesn't always works out well, I prefer the 3rd and 5th played more brightly, but the 7th fares well in his hands.


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## 89Koechel (Nov 25, 2017)

perdido34 said:


> Szell/Cleveland's in-concert performance of Sibelius 7 (Helsinki 1965) is outstanding and easily located on YouTube (it was never commercially issued).


(outstanding) - That's what you'd expect from Szell, even in monaural sound. I have it on CD dub, and thanks for mentioning the YouTube location.


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## 89Koechel (Nov 25, 2017)

Also, for another outstanding performance, there's one that's very-difficult to find - Sixten Ehrling with the Stockholm Phil. Ehrling was RENOWNED for his interpretations/recordings of Sibelius, Nielsen and Berwald.


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## 89Koechel (Nov 25, 2017)

Finally, thanks to Josquin13 for his December, 2021 posts (numbers 10 and 12), and those GREAT examples of many, on YouTube! ... and the scholarly tone of post #12, with the mention of the Sibelius Society, the Sibelius Companion, et. al. - wonderful sources! It's great to have the earliest years of Lorin Maazel so well-represented, as in his Sibelius 7th, with the Vienna Phil, at it's peak, also. The Bernstein example is very fine, also ... and, for what it's worth, here's a slight excerpt from a long-ago assessment (Royal S. Brown, High Fidelity, May 1969) of the Bernstein approach ... "1) The Koussevitzky Tradition. This approach stresses broad outlines with weighty, sensuous sonorities and a romantic softening of the music's starker, less compromising aspects, while at the same time retaining a basic reserve and continence. Of modern-day exponents, Bernstein's readings can largely be taken as the paradigm for the Koussevitzky approach." ... Well, the other methods of 1969, were "The Stokowski Tradition", "The Beecham Approach", "The Teutonic Sibelius of Karajan", and "The Nontraditional Approach" (Watanabe, Hannikainen and Robert Kajanus). To me, it's possible that even Berglund and others of the latter-day recordings, take the "softening" of the "starker" parts of this great work, but I'm sure that others could argue/debate, otherwise.


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