Customer Reviews

Sibelius: Symphonies 2 & 7

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I really wanted to love this CD. I've enjoyed the Ormandy recordings I've heard in the past and, just as importantly, Ormandy was a committed champion of Sibelius and therefore a top man in my book.

First the good news: The version of the 2nd here is very good indeed; spirited and energetic throughout in addition to possessing plenty of the opulence for which Ormandy was famous. Particularly fine brass as well. Fans of the 2nd symphony probably will love this disc.

What I was really looking forward to was Ormandy's 7th and that's the reason for my disappointment. It starts off very well, the first couple of minutes being as good as any I've heard, but then it all goes wrong when we get to the gorgeous hymn-like section of the adagio. The problem is simple: Ormandy is just too slow. He's especially slow from the first trombone climax through to the end of the adagio; slower even than the Rattle/CBSO version, although he's not as unconvincing as that account. The adagio should have an exultant singing, surging quality but here it's little more than soothing. A shame. As if to compensate some of the later stages of the piece are played extremely quickly and sound a bit throwaway. Oh well...not to my taste, I suppose.

These are old recordings (1956 and '60) and I'm quite surprised by the level of enthusiasm for the sound quality shown by other reader reviewers. The sound is really no more than OK and I've heard far better sounding recordings from the same era. This is a fairly typical Sony Essential Classics disc - they don't seem to put anything like the same effort into remastering as many other labels. Compare and contrast with same era recordings on DG Originals and you'll see what I mean. In this case the sound is thin (you HAVE to turn the bass up on the 2nd Symp), a little dry, and lacking in bloom and transparency. Headphone listening reveals some poor mastering in the 2nd Symphony as well.

The booklet has some good notes, although no prizes for recounting, yet again, the infamous occasion when Mahler told Sibelius "A symphony must be a whole world". Sadly the booklet doesn't tell us how Sibelius refrained from replying "and what would you know about it you tedious, long-winded, self-dramatising old buffoon?" Only joking, Gustav fans.

I have owned this disc for years and never heard another to beat it in this particular coupling. As much as I like both Karajan and Kamu in the Second, I think Ormandy - who could on occasion deliver very routine interpretations - really has the measure of this music. There is a real underlying tension and spring in the bucolic opening bars of his Second, and a taut, propulsive quality to the development which I prefer to the more measured, leisurely and reflective approach of Kamu, and while the strength of his and Karajan's well-known affinity with Sibelius is reinforced by the opulence of the playing of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra is just as virtuosic. While there is room for a leaner sound, I like my Sibelius to be majestic without being bombastic, and I think Ormandy gets it right. Kamu seems to me to be just that bit too broad in the Finale, whereas Ormandy sets the pulse racing with an altogether more heroic climax of Wagnerian grandeur.

I loved Ormandy's Seventh from the first hearing, knew I was hearing something special and have since always preferred it to all others. There is a special atmosphere to the playing here: a kind of living, humming, breathing intensity to the strings. The swirling, scudding snowdrifts from around the 11 minutes mark onwards are magically atmospheric. Ormandy's grasp of the symphony's architecture ensures a soft, inexorable progression towards a riveting climax. Comparative timings suggest that he is quite swift and not at all too slow as a previous reviewer complains. The great thing about his pacing is that he toys with the listener, constantly suggesting an approaching resolution without overdoing the drama or histrionics; consequently the release when it comes after such a masterly build-up is correspondingly explosive. A superlative performance of a wonderful work.

The sound on these 1957 and 1960 recordings is really excellent, some slight hiss notwithstanding. This disc is currently unavailable and as such used copies are selling for high prices. If you find a copy cheaply, buy it pronto.

It's like being out in the grand, open, airy spaces. This is the kind of feeling I get listening especially to Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra perform this Sibelius Second. It was recorded nearly a half century ago, and has never dimmed in its marvelously evocative qualities. To say that this conductor and orchestra were made for this piece would brook no disagreement from me. Ormandy's musical temperament is particularly well suited to both its dramatic and placid elements. And, those lush Philadelphia strings have a way of transporting one to near bliss. But, I also don't want to ignore that orchestra's superb and often thrilling horns and woodwinds. In short, this was vintage Philly sound. For a moment, though, I want to return to Ormandy. To me, his way with this symphony seems close to ideal. He delivers a wonderfully balanced combination of drama, sweep, majesty, poetry, tranquillity and, above all, musicality. And, unlike numerous other conductors here, he avoids the tendency to overdrive and engage in theatrics. This is an entirely convincing and satisfying portrait.

While beautifully played, I find Ormandy's Seventh a little too relaxed and polite a good deal of the time. It seems lacking somewhat in more of the strongly contrasting, serious elements of austerity and reflectiveness. I also miss a certain cragginess. I get a much more convincing feel for this work from Vanska, Maazel/Vienna and Collins. Koussevitzky is also excellent, though his much earlier recording suffers from sub par sound. Though this Ormandy disc now appears to be deleted it is worth getting for the conductor's classic Second alone, but I wouldn't pay more than its original list price.

For the Philadelphians - and I know there are too many around the world - there is huge point to their favor; the opulence of his strings section and the overwhelming sonority of woods and metals, made of this legendary ensemble a true delicious for composers who demand this sonorous density as Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky or Sibelius.

And this was, indeed a magnificent to appreciate in its full dimension, the colossal virtues of that sound. Ormandy `s elegance was also a vital factor after Stokowski molded that famed Orcehstra in the early Thirties.

Although the Second Symphony has name and surname (Anthony Collins and the LSO in the early Fifties labeled by Bidulph records) this version is honest, convincing and inspired. The Seventh is among the most expressive and sumptuously recorded ever.

Go for this invaluable record.