Great Sibelius Conductors

The project is of course complicated by conductors who've recorded several cycles (as your comment on Bernstein's 1970s cycle suggests - the DG 1990 1st, mind, is very exciting, and if not completely Sibelius then certainly Bernstein on top form!). The Maazel remake with the Pittsburgh Symphony is a very different beast from the 1960s Vienna cycle.

On the subject of second cycles, I've greatly enjoyed the concert cycle Rattle's just completed with the Berlin Philharmonic (available via their digital concert hall).

Should Ashkenazy get a look in?

And while it's at cross-purposes with your original question, the thing that stumps me is why so many major conductors have never (to my knowledge) conducted Sibelius symphonies. Where is the Haitink cycle, where is the Abbado, where is the Chailly? How did Giulini never conduct some of the late symphonies? Svetlanov seemed to conduct everything - but no Sibelius that I know of. Of course no conductor is obliged to conduct works for the sake of it (and indeed should avoid doing this), but given that there's surely no debate about Sibelius's greatness, what's going on here, do you think?

For me Sibelius and Colin Davis are inseparable, as I fell in love with the music through his Philips records, and for years never listened to anyone else play Sibelius because I didn´t want to hear any other version. When I finally did I was impressed with Karajan, and maybe a bit of an outsider, but I also think Rozhdestvensky´s recorded on Melodiya in the 70´s are wonderful.

I'm reluctant to rank too but this seems to be going in the direction of a healthy 'general' discussion.

I've been a bit sniffy about Vanska in the past but now BIS have reissued his Lahti cycle I realise that the best bits are very, very good - numbers 1, 2 and 5 particularly.

Agree that Ashkenazy should get a look in - there's the classic cycle referred to above, but also the recent Exton recordings with the Royal Stockholm PO with a particuarly good Seventh.

Other than that I'd say on live form Malkki, Storgards and Elder should get a look in - and a blast from the past in the form of Horenstein.

Glad to see Collins mentioned at the head of this thread. His 6th still strikes me as one of the best performances I've heard of the work. Around the same time, Gibson issued an excellent 3rd with the SNO.

All the cycles I've heard have their highs and lows. I love the Maazel 1 and 2 but not the rest. Karajan 4-7 are superb. Incidentally, I don't think he did 1 and 3 but certainly recorded 2 for EMI. Even he couldn't make much of the finale. Rozhdestvensky 7 on Melodiya is very fine. No mention of Kamu? A good 3.

Good lord, John! The finale of 2 is the only piece of Sibelius - not even Valse Triste - I can't handle. I'm watching the subjectiveness/objectiveness thread with interest, fascinated by the immense range of reactions to any given piece of music.

The whole Karajan EMI cycle was a bit of a questionmark, recording-wise. Made you wonder at the time how much of the plush BPO DGG sound was down to engineers.

ref:Tagalie - I have just listened to Sibelius 3 - Okko Kamu and the Helsinki Radio Symphony Orchestra. It is on a pairing with Sibelius 1 on DG Privilege 429 - 526 - 2.

Kamu has a very appealing lightness of touch in this version, even in the melancholy second movement. The woodwind sound quite sinuous, but the brass and strings aren't warm and rich and full enough for me.

Does anybody know if he recorded the full set?

Partsong

Has anyone heard Schmidt-Isserstedt's recording of the 2nd Symphony with the NWDR Symphony Orchestra?  If so, do you know of anyone else who has the tympanist beating away in the coda of the 4th movement like he does?  I forget who started the practice of giving the tympanist such a prominent role (Koussevitzky?) but I think it had Sibelius's approval.  I don't know if S-I's recording made it to CD.  I have it on a Capitol Classics LP, which may mean it was an EMI recording.