Customer Reviews

Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4

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

 

 

A review of recordings of Sibelius' 4th symphony, on CD masters on the BBC on Saturday May 4th, brought this recording out top (of about 10-15 that were considered). The reviewer considered the depths of loneliness and despair reached were remarkable!. More info on the BBC website.

All of the Sibelius symphonies that BIS recorded with Vanska suffer from the same obstacle to giving them a high recommendation. The Lahti Symphony Orchestra -- which for some unfathomable reason is praised for its playing by the unreliable David Hurwitz -- sounds thin and ordinary, as you'd expect a provincial Finnish orchestra to sound. I am mystified why every single amazon review that I've read, as well as the Gramophone, dresses mutton as lamb. The Sibelius first begins with a long clarinet solo, and there's no comparison between the good-enough playing of the Lahti clarinetist and the first chairs of Berlin, Vienna, New York -- substitute any notable ensemble that has recorded the work.

What makes this a defect that isn't crippling is Vanska himself, who has risen to be our leading Sibelius conductor. He is much better supported in concert with his Minnesota Orch., but on this CD one can't miss the freshness and authority of his interpretations. Noting sounds rote or mechanical. There are original things to be heard in the very familiar First that captured my attention. The overall approach is fairly brisk -- at 33 min., Vanska is 2 min. faster than the first alternative I pulled off the shelf, Leonard Bernstein with the NY Phil. That recording is a great one in every respect, so there's no compelling reason to choose Vanska unless you simply want to hear his animated way with the score or happen to like Sibelius slimmed down. There's a kind of reckless abandon in the Scherzo that will either thrill you or seem too rushed. the finale, however, is taken at a measured pace, and it's here, where Sibelius reaches for grandeur, that I find it hard to do without a great orchestra.

The Fourth is Sibelius's most enigmatic symphony, and although it may sound bleak to some (we can set aside Hurwitz's idiotic term "creepy"), devotees of the work hear a deep mysticism. Unlike the composer's opular symphonies, the Fourth has no melodies or conventional development; it takes to the extreme his ability to write like no one else. In that regard, the impenetrability of this work reminds me of Debussy's 'Jeux,' which also sounds like the essence of its composer while being closed off to ordinary listeners. Vanska's very measured pacing has its plus and minus. The minus is that we lose the sumptuous sound that a Karajan or Bernstein commands, and more critically, the themes turn into long, drawn-out events in sound rather than discernible mottoes. The big plus is anska's evocation of the mystery and indescribable feelings inspired by Nature worship.

In this case I'd say that the plus far outweighs the minus. This is a Sibelius fourth to lose yourself in; being unable to follow the musical argument is of little concern. The closest to a conventional movement is the Scherzo, which Vanska takes nimbly and fast enough to do justice to the marking of Allegro molto vivace. At 14 min. the slow movement, marked Largo, has been lengthened so much that themes rise from silence and fall back again in a way that suggests timelessness or deepest reflection. As in the first movement, the result is very affecting. The finale is neither fast nor slow compared to the competition, and although Vanska gives it a sharp characterization, it was here that I most missed the luxury of a great orchestra.

In reviewing any of Vanska's Sibelius cycle, I can't diminish the lack of a better orchestra, but at the same time I recognize how superbly Vanska rises above that limitation. It's a balancing act, with the fourth coming out best.

I won't claim that there is nothing to be said for Karajan's or Maazel's more suave accounts of the Sibelius symphonies, say, but if it even makes sense to ask which version is the `best', then Osmo Vänskä's account with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra is a strong candidate. I guess it just proves that there is no way one can get away with relying on a single version of masterpieces like these.

From the very start of the first symphony, it is obvious that the Lahti players have a command of this work and an understanding of and identification with the soundworld that is pretty much peerless, and Vänskä's grip of the symphonic argument is so taut that e.g. the first movement moves with a forward momentum I've never heard the likes of anywhere else. Even so, the detail and beauty of the movement are in no way jeopardized; indeed, lushly magical string textures and alluringly brilliant woodwinds are just as much notable virtues of the performance. The second movement is beautiful; touching and enchanting, but tastefully so rather than heartwrenchingly sentimental. The Scherzo is electrifying - it is on the fast side, but realized with glittering, craggy brilliance - quite exhilarating - and the final movement takes its cue from the spirit of the scherzo and drives home a performance of excitement and magnificence. In short, everything about this performance comes across as exactly right in every respect and while relistening to Maazel or Karajan (or, presumably, others) confirms that Vänskä's way is not the only way of doing it right, this reading is still fully up there with the absolutely best. A magnificent performance.

In the more introvert and troubled fourth symphony Vänskä's reading is thoughtful and poetic, but with a smoldering intensity and intrinsic energy that belies the almost dangerously slow tempi adopted for the first and third movements. Again, this is one of the most successful readings on disc, and again it is due not only to Vänskä's taut control, but to the Lahti players' complete understanding of the idiom combined with technical assuredness and beauty of tone worthy of any other orchestra one could care to mention. As mentioned, however, some of the tempi are very slow, and while the results are powerfully impressive I'd warn against thinking of this one as the only valid view of the matter. Still, for a complete immersion into the magical, half-lit, wild but radically different musical landscapes of these symphonies, these versions are at least among the best, if not at the very top. The BIS sound is of the kind that gets and deserves engineering awards. A great release, then, urgently recommended.

This BIS disc formed part of the label's Sibelius symphony cycle featuring the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and conductor Osmo Vanska.

The First (1898) is clearly an immature work, heavily indebted to Beethoven. Nonetheless, it is also one of the more auspicious symphonic debuts of any composer. From the start Sibelius introduces his unique style of music, difficult to define, but instantly recognizable, that has led generations of listeners to believe it tells of Man against the elements in the North. I don't listen to the First much, but by the time Sibelius wrote the Fourth (1911) he had reached full maturity as a symphonic composer and as a reverend contributor to modernism. It is one of the bleakest symphonies ever penned, and later composers in the "Nordic style" such as Allan Pettersson found immense inspiration from its grim tone and sparse writing. Two movements of austere low strings move at glacial speeds, their harmonies unable to find any sort of resolution because of an all-dominating tritone. Then the third movement, marked "Il tempo largo" (as if the first two weren't too!) changes the mood so slowly that the reversal of light and darkness is almost imperceptible until confirmed by a luminous glockenspiel. By the time you reach the end of the Fourth, you feel like you've just finished an arduous climb up a mountaintop, the fatigue of listening exertion overcome by joy at the vista revealed.

I think the Vanska and Lahti SO cycle is the best around, featuring incredible musicianship and excellent sound quality. Vanska follows Sibelius' metronome markings, which provides something at least approaching a definitive performance. I think many Sibelius fans will want to get the entire cycle, and so the most economical way to hear these two symphonies is on the BIS Complete Sibelius Symphonies box.