20% off Naxos

Drawing on the romantic spirit in music, Schubert’s moving setting is of a poem by Goethe which compares a rushing waterfall to the soul of man, while Strauss’s gorgeous Mittagsruhe depicts the peace of a summer noontide. Narrative vocal traditions are heard in Sibelius’s nationalist Vapautettu kuningatar, Bruckner’s heroic Helgoland, and Grieg’s Landkjenning, which tells of the 10th century Norwegian king Oleg Tryggvason. Das Liebesmahl der Apostel anticipates the religious ecstasies of Wagner’s Parsifal, while Debussy’s early cantata Invocation resonates with Gallic sparkle.

1930 and 1932 studio recordings

Jean Sibelius wrote that “there are none who have gone deeper and given [my symphonies] more feeling and beauty than Robert Kajanus”. The nobility and affection in this première recording of the First Symphony makes it uniquely cherished amongst Sibelius aficionados. Pohjola’s Daughter is a supreme masterpiece, filled with brooding atmosphere and tension, and Tapiola is a graphic evocation of destructive climate and landscape. This is the first of three volumes containing Robert Kajanus’s complete Sibelius recordings.

Mark Obert-Thorn, producer and audio restoration engineer

Offered a grant in 1930 to broaden international interest in Finnish music through recordings made in London, Jean Sibelius did not hesitate in his choice of a conductor, writing that “there are none who have gone deeper and given [my symphonies] more feeling and beauty than Robert Kajanus”. These thrilling recordings remain a critical reference today, with Kajanus seen as “Sibelius’s most eloquent and perceptive champion… listening to the Second Symphony one senses the extraordinary feeling Kajanus had for the organic nature of Sibelius’s symphonic thought” (The Gramophone). Including the exotic and enticing Belshazzar’s Feast and patriotic Karelia suites, this is the second of three volumes containing Robert Kajanus’s complete Sibelius recordings.

Mark Obert-Thorn, producer and audio restoration engineer

Mark Obert-Thorn, producer and audio restoration engineer

This is the last of three volumes containing the complete Sibelius recordings conducted by Robert Kajanus in performances which carry the composer’s imprimatur. Sibelius said of Kajanus that “there are none who have gone deeper and given [my symphonies] more feeling and beauty”. The volatility and extended climaxes of Symphony No. 3 are perfectly shaped. Symphony No. 5 also takes flight majestically, not least in the ‘swan theme’ of the finale.