Sibelius: Finlandia; Valse Triste; Tapiola; Der Schwan von Tuonela; The Swan of Tuonela [Import]

Jean Sibelius (Composer), Herbert von Karajan (Conductor), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
• Composer: Jean Sibelius
• Audio CD (September 10, 1984)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Deutsch Grammophon
• ASIN: B00000E2WH
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,654 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stylish and powerful, September 2, 2005

By 

Stephen Chakwin (Norwalk, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sibelius: Finlandia; Valse Triste; Tapiola; Der Schwan von Tuonela; The Swan of Tuonela (Audio CD)

Leave the hooey of the previous review aside. He's obviously got a point to make that has nothing to do with music and is wrong extra-musically as well. If it really matters what Karajan's politics were, read Osborne's excellent biography and learn that Karajan had ongoing difficulties with the Nazis culminating in his being frozen out of most work when he married a woman who was half Jewish.
All of that aside, these are magnificent readings. Karajan - as the composer himself recognized - has the idiom of this music down perfectly and finds perfect balance between mysticism and cool objectivity in The Swan of Tuonela, for example. If you want this selection of pieces, you won't find a better played or more sympathetically interpreted recording than this one.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gloriously Opulent Sibelius, March 24, 2007

By 

Scriabinmahler (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sibelius: Finlandia; Valse Triste; Tapiola; Der Schwan von Tuonela; The Swan of Tuonela (Audio CD)

The damning comment below is totally unjust and unreliable as the reviewer's view is completely clouded and distorted by his own personal dislike of Karajan as a person, that has nothing to do with either the conductor as musician nor content of this CD (what does Karajan's career strategy with Nazis, true or not, have to do with the recording!)

Karajan's reading of Finlandia is not a bombastic statement of Finnish nationalism, yet has weight and dignity with much emphasis on bass and the gloriously opulent sound from the orchestra.

The other three works are masterfully shaped and vividly captured with imagination. A fine addition to Karajan's Sibelius recordings.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful but stingy, November 16, 2009

By 

Michael C. Collins (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sibelius: Finlandia; Valse Triste; Tapiola; Der Schwan von Tuonela; The Swan of Tuonela (Audio CD)

These performances have the power and polish we expect from Von K and the Berliners.
My only gripe is that DGG is so stingy. Only 42 minutes of Music. Throw in the En Saga at about 9 minutes, or the Karelia Suite. It can be done!