Great Sibelius Conductors

I have not listened  enough Sibelius symphonies for recommendations. But, but, but....I did listen very carefully to many performances of the 2nd. Please, follow my advice:

- George Szell, Tokyo 1970 (Sony)

- Barbirolli (Chesky)

- Monteux (if you find the "Anteater Recordings" label remastering, you won't believe the awesome remastering).

It seems to me that Anteater Recordings does not exists any longer. If such, is unfortunately that it was a very ephemeral label.

Best,

J.  

The recording of the 5th Symphony was once available on a BBC Radio Classics CD with Nielsen's 4th, both Proms performances, the Sibelius on August 9, 1968, and the Nielsen on July 30, 1965 with the Halle Orchestra.  If this is not the same performance of the Sibelius on Testament please let me know.  Their website does not give the performance date.

Hmm no one mentioned me!?;)

Just joking of course. I can not stand even close to those fantastic orchestra conductors named here but you might be interested on my conducting experiment that I have done with Sibelius 'En Saga'. I combined Poethic Islandic Edda with 'En Saga' digitally. That was my conducting from the life performance. So, sit back and enjoy something interesting (I hope) for lenght about 16 min. -  http://www.TheOrchestraConductor.com.

At the end of the day it was just an experiment and I hope good one. It is indeed one of my favorite Sibelius works and I still enjoy it very much!

Regards to all,

Rihards

My first Sibelius LP was Barbirolli/Halle in the 5th and 7th. Borrowed it from the local library and taped it - and later I was delighted to be able to buy the original LP when they had a clearance sale.

Even if I listened to S.'s other symphonies with other conductors, I still associate the 5th and 7th with Barbirolli. It helps that I consider those two S.'s best symphonies (followed closely by 4 and 3).

After Barbirolli's cycle, I got into Ashkenazy, loved his clear and "open" sound but sometimes found there's a certain lack of depth in his performances, specially when Sibelius gets in a darker mood. The symphonic poems fare better than the symphonies under his baton, I think.

Then I got Karajan 5 and 6 and Kamu 1 and 3. Not generally a Karajan fan, but his 5th is very successful, the 6th a bit less so. Kamu's 3rd is wonderful, light as a morning breeze. The 1st I never really cared about.

Avoid Bernstein's VPO 2nd like the plague, a hysterical, overblown performance, which I was stupid enough to buy. It's still sitting here, stinking up my cd cabinet.

Then I got four complete cycles which I still listen to occasionally. First Abravanel's cycle with the Utah Symphony, concise, rather fast performances which don't always reach the core of the works. Still, they have their moments. Then Jukka-Pekka Saraste's '95-'96 cycle with the finnish RSO, ideomatic but not very exciting, the main attraction being the inclusion of the rarely performed Kullervo symphony.

Colin Davis' second cycle got very mixed reviews and many people gets turned off by his idiosyncratic style. I gotta say that the many liberties he takes with the music always sound convincing to me and in the spirit of the composer. Davis goes to the core of the music where most "neutral" conductors fail to do so. I wouldn't recommend it as one's first Sibelius, but as an addendum to Barbirolli, Ashkenazy or Sanderling it's fascinating.

Finally, Kurt Sanderlings cycle with the East-German Berlin SO. Underrated (like the Abravanel cycle) and to me it's the polar opposite of Ashkenazy in that Sanderling is most convincing when Sibelius applies darker colors, like in his 4th. I don't know any 4th that brings out the depressing qualities of this work better than Sanderling's (that's a compliment, btw). It's raw, dark, unpolished, exactly what this symphony needs. The brighter 3rd, 5th and 7th fare less well.

Then there's a some historic oddity in the form of Hans Rosbaud's Tone Poems disk on DG. Mono recordings from the 50's when S. was condemned as an oldfashioned romantic by the then modernists - which didn't stop a modern music specialist like Rosbaud to try his hand at this repertoire. It's odd to hear him in sentimental stuff like the Valse Triste and the Sawn of Tuonela - but the main attraction, Tapiola, comes off as a modern masterpiece under his baton. Absolutely thrilling and miles apart from the romantic approach most modern conductors opt for in this piece.

In the same category there's Koussevitsky's 7th from 1933. Fascinating document from an era when this music was still very new.

Funny you should mention that Bazza, I was just about to write something about that set. I hadn't heard it for some time until I recently bought the set very cheaply.  Much finer than I remembered, the overblown second excepted.  I think 4,5,6, and 7 are all superb, and Decca's recordings still sound magnificent! The fifth underplayed a little, but I prefer it that way these days. My two favourites for the second are Monteux and Barbirolli (RPO).

Also, I very much second 50m's respect for the Rosbaud tone poem recordings. Dour but powerful!

Chris

Yes, terrific sound and playing from the VPO (who, as someone pointed out to me, were not that familiar with Sibelius at the time). Maazel's 6 is a very strange beast indeed. The second movement is unbelievably rapid. A favourite moment is the introduction of the Viennese waltz into the middle movement of the 5th. It never fails to raise a smile when I hear it!

Another favourite cycle is Alexander Gibson's clear-headed set on Chandos. Direct and unfussy.

edit - just seen that GWP says much the same above.

(To Walter Legge): "I have always been a great admirer of Mr v. Karajan, and his magnificent recording of my works has given me the keenest satisfaction. Esp in the 4th Symphony, his great artistic line and the inner beauty have deeply impressed me."

"..excellent recordings of my 4th and 5th Symphony. I have now heard them many times and can only say that I am happy. K is a great master. His interpretation is superb, technically and musically."

- from Osborne's "A Life in Music"

The transition of the 1st/2nd mvt in the 5th is so natural under Karajan, but for some reason rarely achieved by others.

I like Szell's recording of the 4th