Search - Jean Sibelius, Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra :: Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 7 [Hybrid SACD]

A Sibelius specialist in familiar territory

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 01/26/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Colin Davis has recorded all the Sibelus symphonies a couple times. This version mates two of the composer's less well known symhonies. The SACD is typical of LSO Live -- deep and broad-ranging with little brilliance.



English critics loved this when it came out and Americans called it too low pressure compared to his earlier recording. Another pairing of these symphonies recently arrived via England's new conductorial darling, Simon Rattle.



I enjoy this CD in part because the pressure is low in this performance in keeping with the composer's thoughts during the period. The Symphony No. 3 was written at a time when the composer was rattled, you might say. Russia owned Finland in that period and they were dominating his country. In addition, Sibelius had throat cancer surgery about that time that forced him to quit drinking and smoking cigars, both of which were among his favored pastimes.



The symphony preceded his Symphony No. 4 which is sparsely orchestrated in opposition to more richly orchestrated works by Strauss and Elgar. You hear some of that thinking to lesser extent in this performance. Finally, the Sibelius Symphony No. 7, with no program, is unlike anything in his arsenal insofar as it does not represent any known traditional musical style. It is Sibelius at his most adventuruous.



At almost $20 this is an expensive CD with less than an hour's music on it. I find it a satisfying reading of the scores that refelcts both the conductor and composer's maturity. If you seek white heat, I'd say acquire the condutor's earlier version."