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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
buried treasure,
By
This review is from: Sibelius: Symphonies 2 & 7 (Audio CD)
Both of these symphonies have been lucky to have been so well represented on record. It would be easy to pass over this CD, particularly in the face of competition in the US from Colin Davis in Boston and Bernstein with the NYPO, among others. This performance ranks along side them in artistic quality and is more competitively priced than either. Those who like Sibelius to have a opulent, magisterial sound (instead of the so-called lean, taut sound) will enjoy this disc, especially at its very modest price. Its nearest competitor in this price range would be Adrian Leaper on Naxos, and I would suggest that the Philadelphia Orchestra's playing would probably be the better of the two. The Seventh here is one of my favourite recordings of this enigmatic work, and it is distinguished by very noble brass, particularly the solo trombone writing. The finale is very powerful and dramatic too. The Second is distinguished by the string playing and very sensible tempi; the second movement is not allowed to drag on too long and the transition between the third and final movements is managed superbly. The finale is big without being overblown. The sound engineering is very good, making no allowance at all for the age of the performances. The documentation is excellent. Overall, this is a very satisfying issue and deserves the widest circulation. Strongly recommended.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding in every way.....Ormandy & Sibelius,
By
This review is from: Sibelius: Symphonies 2 & 7 (Audio CD)
To be brief, this disc is simply one of the greatest "deals" on the market, in terms of music, performance, and sound. Eugene Ormandy was a natural Sibelian, and it's a pity that Columbia didn't record an entire symphony cycle with the Philadelphia Orchestra under his baton. Others may correct me; I believe his only other issue with the label was Symphony #1, which is now coupled with Symphony #5, under Bernstein, and the Romance for Strings in C, under Louis Lane and the Cleveland Sinfonietta.I'll admit some prejudices here. It was an old Columbia Odyssey LP that introduced me to this music and this particular performance back in the 60s. Like many other "first hearings," this one colored my listening experience with any subsequent encounters with the Sibelius 2nd. While the Ormandy/ "Philadelphia Sound" series took a back seat to Leonard Bernstein's New York hey-day in the late 50's and 60's, the Philadelphians continued to produce some outstanding recordings. In their LP incarnations, they (like so much else released by Columbia during that period) suffered from what the English would describe as "transatlantic sound"--thin bass and tinny treble. None of that is apparent here. Textures and balances are natural and full, with master tape hiss very well managed in the background. My experience with the current CD incarnation can be likened to moving from AM mono to FM stereo, all gain to the point of being revelatory. The performance was everything I'd remembered and more. Ormandy, like Karajan, was a master at ensuring that the "arc" of the performance wasn't just an accumulation of so many detailed moments. No abrupt tempo-changing grandstanding here. And, like Karajan, Ormandy encouraged his famed strings to "take wing." They truly soar in the closing movement with its big tune, almost Tchaikovsky-like...not out of place in this most romantic of Sibelius' symphonies. With that sentiment in mind, I'll also alleviate any fears of cinematic bloating. While not of the "taut and lean" school as personified by Vanska on BIS, Ormandy is likewise not guilty of hamming things up. Winds and brass all have their say, but not to the point of displacing the string choirs in the balance of the scoring. Sibelius' natural sense of color, timing, and drama are all very much in evidence. A great performance of Sibelius' Second Symphony should leave a listener feeling rewarded, the big themes still resonating in the mind, and the emotions stirred. This classic account by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra from the late 50s, beautifully remastered and offered as a genuine bargain, does just that. It is wisely coupled with a satisfying account of the often-enigmatic Seventh Symphony. This symphony in one movement, originally presented as a "Fantastica Sinfonia", was Sibelius most concentrated utterance. Again, the lynch-pin of a successful rendering is accomplished string playing, coupled with an unerring sense of dramatic narrative. There may be more probing accounts available, but Ormandy's is just fine. Strongly recommended.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sibelius + Ormandy = Essential!,
By John (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Sibelius: Symphonies 2 & 7 (Audio CD)
Essential Classics brings us one of the great bargains in the Classical catalogue.This 1957 recording is far better sounding than you might think. The strings and brass are a great deal more extravagant and open than they seem to be in Modern recordings these days. The Sibelius 2nd symphony gets a commanding performance and mainly in the finale and the structural design of the symphony is held together well all throughout. The 7th symphony recorded three years later, is very impressive indeed. It is wonderfully paced, as well as very intense. They seldom make recordings like this anymore. The world was a different place.
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