Search - Sibelius, Davis, Boston Sym Orch :: Sibelius: Pohjola's Daughter; Valse triste; Karelia Suite; etc. [Australia]

Very Nice Program on One CD

Ekrem Ayyildiz | istanbul,turkey | 08/17/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"C.Davis has a fame with his Berlioz, Sibelius, Haydn, Mozart recordings and English repertoir. For many of these composers you can find better, greater or more essential recordings but if we talk about Sibelius, C.Davis is always true, sometimes really great conductor. For instance his first Sibelius symphony cycle with Boston Symphony (1974-76,Philips) is one of the best in catalog.(Others: Barbirolli, Karajan, Ormandy, Bernstein and Ashkenazy).

The performance of Pohjola's Daughter is slow but absolutly good. PD is one of the hard to find works that was well recorded and performed and this is one of them like Salonen's DDD recording with Philharmonia(Sony). On the other hand my great favorites are still Neeme Jarvi (DG), Ormandy (BMG/RCA) and Barbirolli (EMI) recordings.

En Saga and Valse Triste performances are powerful and well-played.

But I'm disappointed with Tapiola and Karelia Suite. Especially the performance of Karelia is poor: Irregular rythyms, liveless brass section and cymbals, ordinary string and bass playing. You can find better and greater recordings such as Barbirolli, Rosbaud, Karajan, Marriner, Ashkenazy,Kamu and Segerstam.

Recording quality is not so good, not bad though.(1974-79, Studio, ADD-Stereo)

Good price for this program and performances."

"Sleepy Time" Colin Davis

Hannibal | Los Angeles, CA USA | 07/26/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Potential buyers should be warned that despite the deserved praise Colin Davis has earned from his first cycle of the major works by Sibelius (with the Boston Symphony), particularly Symphonies No.3 & No.6, these shorter works suffer from a definite lack of adrenaline. It's almost as if Davis' mind was somewhere else during the recording sessions. Only in Tapiola does he wake up a bit.



Davis and the BSO just go through the motions as if on "auto-pilot", and in addition, this Eloquence issue has poor sound, lifeless transfers from the original Philips recordings, which definitely sounded better.



Those interested in these works should look to Jarvi, Vanska, and Sakari - just to name a few - who bring life and sonic excellence to these marvellous pieces."