Great Sibelius Conductors

I find all this a bit dismal. We all have our favourite performances but, surely, NONE are "best" - it is all subjective and one man's meat is another man's poison.

If the intention is to draw attention to lesser-known performances/recordings or just to state one's preferences then that is fine but please don't try to "grade" Kajanus, Bernstein, C. Davis, Vänskä, Sanderling, Karajan, Berglund, Beecham, Barbirolli, Blomstedt, Järvi, Segerstam, Maazel, Anthony Collins et al.

Speaking personally I had the great privilege of studying some of these scores (in particular the 7th symphony) with Paavo Berglund back in the 70's - that has certainly clouded by subjective judgement and I am addicted to his Bournemouth Set (now available at less than a tenner on EMI). But I do not claim these are in any way "the best" and would not presume to "grade" such great musicians.

That's Sibelius allright. He loved absolutely everything. The mere fact that a conductor chose to play and record his works guaranteed a positive review.

I'd be the same. Who wants to play my symphonies? You'd get the composer's thumbs up, no matter how bad the performance. I'd even sign a contract saying so. It's a no-risk business.

Ah well, one can dream.

Hi Adrian

Try Berglund's Shostakovich, Brahms and Smetana! But I do agree his range was a bit limited!

Early Grey,

You where right! This Monteux recording of Sibelius  2nd. is very interesting! Thanks for share.

''Funnily enough, I just uploaded the London Symphony Orchestra's
Sibelius 2nd Symphony under Pierre Monteux and while you may not find
the transfer awesome ( although it seems pretty good to me) I think
you'll agree the interpretation is easily that.

http://www.cliveheathmusic.co.uk/vinyl.php

I'm just processing the Munch Saint-Saens Organ Symphony so while I
can't claim anything in respect of the Bruckner Te Deum ( discussed in
another thread) at least the last movement of this work will give food
for thought regarding the ability of vinyl to cope with complexity. It
should be up in a day or two. In any case for demanding trackability
check out the opening of the Respighi, Pines of Rome, which you'll find
with the Sibelius, for a piece of music that would have done well as a
test of your V15 III on the "Shure" LP.''

I heard a similar anecdote attributed to Sibelius: he would telegram them, declaring that they were now his favourite conductor!

As promised earlier and quoted above, my vinyl transfer of Saint-Saens 3rd Symphony has been added to my site, a little late because I found the opening bars marred by excess noise which I have not been able to overcome ( and it was Easter!). Nevertheless the damage is very slight and after the short quiet preamble to the Allegro first movement you will enjoy the airy acoustic, the spacious recording and the marvellous interpretation. In the last movement you will be able to hear for yourself that vinyl can cope perfectly well with organ, cymbals, strings and brass which suggests that the addition of a choir should not prove a problem.

http://www.cliveheathmusic.co.uk/vinyl.php

Apart from the Sibelius 2 (whose thread this is) from Monteux, another recent addition is the Previn, LSO, Rachmaninov 2 sounding equally amazing.

Interesting debate re Sibelius recordings - also interesting that I played on a number of Gibson's recordings in the 1960s-70s, and Tagalie, I was in the orchestra playing at Massey Hall in Toronto in November 1975.

I've moved on since those days, though, and I note that no-one has mentioned Sakari Oramo's (admittedly limited) output with the CBSO.

His readings are pretty fresh and interesting.