JEAN SIBELIUS (1865-1957)

Finlandia, op.26 Karelia Suite, op.11 Lemminkäinen Legends, op.22 Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Petri Sakari NAXOS 8.554265 [68:08] budget-price

by The Inkpot Sibelius Nutcase^tm

This disc is strange. Judging from the other two excellent discs of Sibelius music (Nos.1 & 3 - ; No.2 - reviewed here) that this combination of performers have already produced for Naxos, this album is odd but it has its good points. The situation is that these recordings were done in two sessions spaced six months apart, May and November 1997 - and the difference is like summer and winter. On the one hand, comprising Finlandia and the Karelia Suite, the Icelanders are in a fiery but untamable mood. On the other, the Lemminkäinen Legends, it is in much more refined voice. The performances are like from two different orchestras! In the former, the sound engineering is sub-par, the orchestral disposition is somewhat scrappy, even indifferent, at worst downright messy.

The performances of Finlandia and the Karelia Suite have a "live" feel to them - it is possible that the recordings were done in very few, maybe just one take apiece. This is apparently not an infrequent habit of Naxos, though I have no proof. It does show why virtually all recordings of classical music are done in multiple takes, of which the best bits are later spliced together. Cheating, but face it - that's what we've all been listening to!

Finlandia here, as I've said, feels very "live". Indeed I might even say "alive" - it is lustily driven, with an edge of nervous excitement, though the sound is very brash and sometimes bunched up, lacking transparency (yes, even for Finlandia). Some of the combined ensemble is carelessly smudged, and I have heard much better brass playing elsewhere.

Similar is the performance of Lemminkäinen's Return - one very lusty ride. The performers play with great conviction, and Sakari drives everything along with an extremely good sense of speed despite the movement clocking in at a relatively "long" 6'25". The only thing is, as with Finlandia, not all will appreciate this slap-dash style of playing, rushing everything along with just that faint feeling of messiness, say in the woodwind staccati. There is little of the transparency or detail available in Paavo Berglund's account with the Bournemouth Symphony (reviewed here). If you listen with a good set or with headphones the transparency improves but you can also hear the tone suffering - eg. the timpani is dry and flat, and right at the end, the piccolo player spoils everything with a couple of extremely awful bursts of shrill chirping which I'm very surprised the producers passed. The trombones do sound quite lur-like though!

My advice: if you can hear these performances and they sound fine to you, good for you. If you don't like them, don't throw away the CD yet - listen for the details with a good set/headphones and Sakari's helter-skelter treatment might just grow on you. But I still get a shock with that piccolo.

As for the Karelia Suite, the Intermezzo begins with some oddly muffled sounds from the trumpets, lacking kick and sounding flat. The marching pulse is reduced to a sort of rushed sliding sensation. Things pick up towards the middle, but now the scrappy Naxos sound reduces the percussion to mush. Sakari effects a never-heard-before subito piano near the end which completely disrupted my train of thought for this music. Hmm. Didn't work for me.

Thankfully, the rest is not so bad: in the Ballade, I enjoyed the rich string playing, though I find the cor anglais solo tired rather than melancholic. The Alla Marcia, if still featuring a very "live" tone (the string tone is a bit grisly), is like Finlandia, energetically driven.

Left: "Lemminkäinen's Mother".
Painting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela.

The main course of this disc is the Lemminkäinen Legends. Sakari paces the opening movement, Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of Saari, finely. I like the subtle buildup of anticipation which Sakari also moulds in Lemminkäinen in Tuonela (placed second), exploiting the Sibelian tremolo, the whizzing string passages, the rushing woodwing exchanges. There is no lack of passion and a keen sense of drama from conductor and orchestra - very satisfactory. The orchestra is in good shape - nice strings, brass pedals, woodwind figures - in complete contrast to the abovementioned.

The famous Swan of Tuonela enjoys some really shining playing from the strings in their important role. The cor anglais soloist winds his way through the sinuous melody with dark, forlorn atmosphere, while the beautifully icy strings shimmer quietly and unobstrusively in the background. The sustaining of this misty, melancholic mood is impressive - try the ending when the strings sing yearningly in tutti. In similar vein listen to the forlorn cello solo section of Lemminkäinen in Tuonela - beautifully sustained atmosphere here, in contrast with the great but carefully controlled cries of brass (too violent in some performances) earlier on.

This is a mixed bag but not bad. I would recommend that the reader spend more for better recordings if possible.

S I B E L I U S Nature is coming to life: that life which I so love, now and always, whose essence shall pervade everything which I compose.

In Singapore, Naxos CDs can be easily ordered from Sing Discs (Raffles City), Tower (Pacific Plaza and Suntec City), Borders (Wheelock Place) or HMV (The Heeren).

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