# 100 Favorites: # 91



## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

*Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4
Sir John Barbirolli, Hallé Orchestra (Warner Classics)*










I'll join the chorus of hosannas for Barbirolli's Sibelius. I've listened to Disc 2 (Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4) more than any of the others in this set. Barbirolli brings such a strong interpretive perspective to these works; it feels like a lifetime's worth of thinking about them and performing them. It's almost as if I'm hearing Sibelius and Barbirolli speaking directly to me when I listen. I can't resist these types of performances, when the performer's identification with the composer is so complete that it's impossible to distinguish where the composer's work ends and the interpreter's begins.


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