COMPOSERS: Sibelius
LABELS: HMV
WORKS: Symphony No. 2; The Oceanides; En saga; The Swan of Tuonela
PERFORMER: Helsinki PO/Paavo Berglund;Vienna PO/Malcolm Sargent
CATALOGUE NO: 7 67807 2 ADD/DDD (1988/63)
Often urgent as well as lovingly detailed readings of the Second Symphony and The Oceanides, though Berglund fails to achieve sufficient cumulative power and resolution in the Symphony’s finale, and there are occasional insecurities in the playing overall. The VPO sound as though they thought Sibelius just inferior Tchaikovsky, even if Sargent didn’t. The composer’s financial, as well as musical, debts seem to obsess the booklet writer: surely a few structural pointers for the Symphony would have been more use? Keith Potter
Sibelius: Symphony No. 2; The Oceanides; En saga; The Swan of Tuonela
Often urgent as well as lovingly detailed readings of the Second Symphony and The Oceanides, though Berglund fails to achieve sufficient cumulative power and resolution in the Symphony’s finale, and there are occasional insecurities in the playing overall. The VPO sound as though they thought Sibelius just inferior Tchaikovsky, even if Sargent didn’t. The composer’s financial, as well as musical, debts seem to obsess the booklet writer: surely a few structural pointers for the Symphony would have been more use? Keith Potter
Our rating
3
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:34 pm