Customer Reviews

Sibelius: Kullervo

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

 

 

Full disclaimer: I am one of the 100 male voices on this recording. (The choral portions, while a gratifying accomplishment, only make up about 25% of the work.)

Ignoring my bias for my own choir, I must praise the ASO for their brilliant playing on this album. The transparency and immediacy of their performance showcases how far Spano has brought the orchestra since the start of his tenure.

One possible reason for this: Robert Spano's mother is Finnish. He told us in rehearsal that he doesn't speak the language beyond a few phrases but the sound and character of it are installed deep within in his earliest memories. Clearly this tonal memory translated beyond his dead-on pronunciation corrections to the chorus and went all the way to the core sound of the entire piece. We never forget our mother tongue.

Kullervo isn't a work for everyone (incest-driven double-suicides, anyone?), but if you are a Sibelius fan I think you will enjoy Spano's passion, our famous Atlanta choral precision and Telarc's superb recording quality.

As a true fan of Sibelius' music for some ten years now, "Kullervo" counts as one of my favourite pieces, containing so many haunting themes and beautifully capturing the essence of Finnish folklore, mystique and tragedy. Already owning the pioneering version with Berglund from the 70s as well as Panulas Naxos-recording, I felt I wanted to hear a new, fresh rendition of the work. My choice was between this Telarc release and the BIS recording with Osmo Vänski and the Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Telarc hadn't disappointed me before, usually delivering powerful and lively performances with top-notch American orchestras, so I went for the Telarc recording with Robert Spano.

What a mistake!

I hate to say it, but after several listenings I'm still deeply disappointed by this rendition. Spano does some odd choices of tempo and dynamics that I don't think does the music any good. There is something very 'anonymous' about the performance, and I never get emotionally involved with the piece, it sort of coasts along in neutral throughout. Some of the most haunting melodies never seem to reach me. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with its Chorus (who reportedly put in a lot of effort studying Finnish before the recording to make the vocal parts come out right) doesn't seem to get things together here. Some passages simply sound awkward, like the woodwinds and the strings, as if the interplay wasn't there at all. The brass, which is commonly one of the standouts of the ASO, doesn't impress me here either. Also, and this could be a recording issue, I think the sound of the ASO is pretty thin. Both the low-budget Panula version and the Berglund one extract more timbre and colours from the orchestra. Strange, considering Telarc takes such pride in working hard with their sound engineering. Occassionally, some important parts of the instrumentation are just inexplicably gone from the soundscape, such as the haunting trombone accompaniment driving the concluding march of the introduction. Did the trombonists go for a coffee break?

No, I cannot say that I would recommend this disc. I will go for the Vänskä version on BIS instead, that sounds very promising according to reviewers. In fact, after hearing this Telarc version, I have gone back many times to the Panula "Kullervo" on Naxos, a low-budget release considered a bit stiff by many, and felt it to be extremely superior and more engaging than this version by Robert Spano.

I thought you could never go wrong with Telarc, taking into account all the great discs they've done in the past, but I guess you have to be a bit careful these days and listen through before you buy! No, if you want a good performance of Kullervo, look further!