Customer Reviews

Panorama: Jean Sibelius

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here we have a gathering of the finest performances of the most wellknown Sibelius-works available in the archives of Deutsche Gramophone. 2 CD's for the price of one makes up for a great bargain. Karajan, as always, is focused in creating a mix of as much beauty and power as possible. In this kind of music it works off quite well, especially in the Finlandia, The Swan of Tounela and the 5th symphony, that all are exceptionally fine. The violin concerto and the 'valse triste', though, are wellplayed and beautiful (that goes for violin soloist Ferras too) - yes - but lacking some nerve and passion, and especially the valse trist is done a little too slow.

Okku Kamu's, the other baton-holder of this compilation, account begins very good with a splendid performance of the Karelia suit that shows his understanding of the works diversity - he and the Helsinki SO sounds natural, charming and playful - yet intense and making you feel the underlying seriousness that always is there in Sibelius music. His rendition of the 2nd symphony, a work about the finnish emotions and patriotic struggle against a greater power (Russia, Sweden), is - emotional, dark and vivid. Here he plays with the Berliner PO (as is the case with all the Karajan tracks) who produces great detail to what is an over all splendid performance.

All together, most of the performances on this CD is top-of-the-list. The fact that two of them aren't (the Valse triste and the violin concerto), does, however, not mean that they're bad, not at all. Karajan brings forth the splendid beauty in Sibelius' music, while Kamu finds more of the natural aspects, seriousness and mysticism. They're a perfect match, giving you an extremely good compilation of a great semi-modern composer at his best. So if you want a good glimpse of what is so great about Sibelius - you just can't afford to miss this record.

On the Sibelius Violin Concerto with Christian Ferras. Astonishingly underrated. I was quite overwhelmed by it. (Only David Oistrakh is any thing like as good.) None of the showy scraping `gypsy' violin style, just nobility, power, strength and seriousness, which is just what Sibelius is said to have wanted. Apparently, Sibelius marked a slower tempo in the first movement than he might have done just to deter violinists from using it for virtuoso display. Ferras plays this piece as if it were a symphony: passionate with a superb full tone and magnificent intonation. Very good recording quality too. Karajan gives him just the right support: dark, powerful, purposive. Ferras isn't quite as well known these days as some other violinists - this may be partly owning to the fact that he died comparatively young, aged only 49 in 1982. I can't recommend it too highly. The Karajan Sibelius 5 is well-known as superb. Just list to the horns at the beginning of the last movement. Kamu's Sibelius 2 is less well-known, but is magnificent. The Berlin Phil brass play wonderfully, as do the rest of the orchestra - the ending, as is not always the case manages to be infinitely powerful without being bombastic.

Alot of people just don't understand how great Herbert K really was...Sibelius himself said he was the only conductor who fully understood his music! Add to that the intensity of tone and wonderful focused sound of the Berlin Phil and you have a group that seemed designed to perform Sibelius..

The Valse Triste of Sibelius has never been played better by anyone..only Beecham is the competitor in this field...Kamu is super in the Second and generates alot of electricity...he is a very underrated musician today..Check Kamu out with Berwald on Naxos.

This is a must buy for Sibelius fans, and also people who want to know more about Sibelius' work. Karajan do a great job here, present the probably greatest performance of Symphony 5 and Finlandia among all known recording(although performance of Valse triste is far from excellent). Once you listen to the opening of Sym 5 1st mvt, you can feel the wildness and grandeur of Scandinavia immediately. Violin Concerto performed by Ferras is lyric and delicate. it is also a favourite to me, since I am bored by the sparkling style of Heifetz that make me shivering. I recommanded all classical listener who do not own any Sibelius take this disc to your first collection.(since it is far cheaper than the DG original Symphony 4-7 by Karajan).You will be fascinated.

This DG Panorama super-bargain double-disc set comprises of some of Karajan's finest Sibelius recordings made between 1965 and 1969 and also versions of the Karelia Suite and the Second Symphony by Okku Kamu made a little later in the 70's. Karajan's affinity with Sibelius comes as no surprise but some might be taken, as was I, by the splendour of the performance of the Violin Concerto, here magnificently played by Christian Ferras, whose fame was to some extent curtailed by a premature death at 49. He produces a rich, Romantic, vibrato-laden sound - he sounds more like a cello in the gorgeous opening of the Adagio - yet is capable of the utmost purity of tone and and delicacy of inflection. He is well matched by the opulent sonorities of the Berlin Philharmonic.

Karajan's other interpretations are equally satisfying unless you have developed a taste for a meaner, leaner Sibelius. His Fifth Symphony is justly celebrated: grand and even a touch grandiose but always convincing. I am slightly less taken with Kamu's restrained, detailed reflective Second, preferring Ormandy's drive and passion, but it is still an affectionate and perceptive performance. The fillers are the works you would expect in such an anthology, including a mesmerising Swan of Tuonela from Karajan and his hypnotic, if very slightly too measured, Valse Triste.

Top Honors. IMHO this recording of the Sibelius Violin Concerto goes to the top of my list for providing a repeatedly thrilling explication of one of the greatest violin concertos in the repetoire. Intense, voluptuous, but never lacking that essential chilled sense of nordic restraint which pervades Sibelius music.

Others have recommended the symphonies' merits; for me the Violin Concerto makes this album a winner.

The orchestral works by Sibelius are excellent. Very dark and heavy, but dramatic and powerful. The Berlin Philharmonic is excellent on this recording.

It would warrant five stars except for the recording of the violin concerto. I can hear that with a good violinist playing (unfortunately, I don't have any other recordings) it could be beautiful, but Christian Ferras at times uses so much vibrato that you can barely hear the pitch (he has one of those wide and fast vibratos that make you shiver). For instance, in the first minute or so of the first movement, there is a hauntingly beautiful violin melody against a sparse orchestral accompaniment, yet Ferras butchers it by playing far too loud and with far too much vibrato. Ferras plays the showy sections correctly technically, but musically he makes them sound terrible. He doesn't make them fit in with the rest of the concerto; he makes some sections sound almost like etudes.

The rest of the CD is great. Enjoy.