Sibelius: Pohjola's Daughter, Op. 49

“This has to be one of the best recordings around of Sibelius's Fifth. And Lutoslawki's Concerto can never have been more brilliantly played.” Classic FM Magazine, December 2011 ****

“Pohjola’s Daughter is very well served here. Jukka-Pekka Saraste’s 2008 RFH performance is electric – fast and exciting where it needs to be, with the darkest, most sinister of openings...Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra makes an unusual coupling. Saraste’s reading is sleazier, grimier than I’ve heard it, moving with a menacing swagger.” The Arts Desk, 19th November 2011

“Both Sibelius works come across very strongly here...Saraste sees these works whole. Always the right thing seems to happen at the right time. The sense of growth from a simple but potent musical seed in the Symphony is as fine as I've ever experienced it...The Lutoslawski too is full of good things and again it builds thrillingly towards the end.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2012 *****

“It is not just concert attendees who will be pleased to have this spectacularly deft and rigorous account of Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra on disc...Saraste is in his element here, clarifying the composer's bejewelled textural mosaics while driving forwards and generally inspiring the players to give of their very best.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2011

“What Sir Colin Davis has to say about Sibelius's Second Symphony hasn’t changed in substance since his first recording with the Boston Symphony, but the paragraphs now flow with ever more assured, Wordsworthian cadences… The life-and-death struggle of the second movement is underlined by two alternating tempi which Davis has not contrasted so dramatically before, not even in the quicker concert performance in Dresden.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2007

“What Sir Colin Davis has to say about Sibelius's Second Symphony hasn't changed in substance since his first recording with the Boston Symphony (Philips), but the paragraphs now flow with ever more assured cadences. The life-anddeath struggle of the second movement is underlined by two alternating tempi which Davis has not contrasted so dramatically before.
Strong rhythmic underpinnings in the Scherzo, the highly contrasted trio and their eventual assimilation into the mighty onrush towards the finale: these all have a distinctively Beethovenian cast. The finale's jubilations justify their length and splendour, just about, with some generous portamento and care over the recitatives of the central, quieter section.
Pohjola's Daughter is an unusual but logical coupling, having its origins in the same Italian trip that brought the birthpangs of the Second Symphony. The tone-poem only saw the light five years after the symphony, however, and you could see it as the Yin to the finale's Yang, moving from the interrupted sonata-form processes of the symphony's first movement into still darker regions of creative despair – the Fourth Symphony looms on the horizon. You can sense this in Davis's conception, which prizes coherence over local colour.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Mature wisdom and beautiful playing from the LSO” The Times, 10th May 2013

“Ashkenazy makes a superb job of Finlandia, which boasts some of the most vibrant, powerful brass sounds on disc.
More than 30 years separate En Saga and Tapiola, yet both works are quintessential Sibelius.
The latter is often praised for the way Sibelius avoided 'exotic' instruments, preferring instead to draw new and inhuman sounds from the more standard ones; and the former is, in many ways, just as striking in the way the orchestration evokes wind, strange lights, vast expanses and solitude. Both works suggest a dream-like journey: En Saga non-specific, though derived from Nordic legend; Tapiola more of an airborne nightmare in, above and around the mighty giants of the Northern forests inhabited by the Green Man of the Kalevala, the forest god Tapio (the final amen of slow, bright major chords brings a blessed release!). Ashkenazy's judgement of long-term pacing is very acute; the silences and shadows are as potent here as the wildest hurricane. And Decca's sound allows you to visualise both the wood and the trees; every detail of Sibelius's sound world is caught with uncanny presence, yet the overall orchestral image is coherent and natural.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“I think the star performance is that of the Sixth Symphony - so elusive, so easy to ruin by over-interpreting. I was fascinated by what seemed like a hint of Russian flavouring in the string chants of the coda - well why not?” Gramophone Magazine

“the perspectives are close, but thrillingly so, revealing every iota of color and textural interest. Just listen to the detail that Davis conjures in the big central development of Pohjola's Daughter, solo winds and harp especially, or to the menacing brass crescendos in En Saga (with the bass drum effectively but naturally in balance). These are magnificent performances all, the conductor and players totally inside the composer's special idiom. Even the relaxed but buoyant Karelia Suite has a very special "fairy tale" atmosphere that's entirely appropriate, full of freshness and innocent fun. In short, what you have here are Sibelius' three greatest tone poems (En Saga, Pohjola's Daughter, and Tapiola) in outstanding interpretations and great sound, along with two popular favorites done every bit as well. Need I say more?"” Classics Today 10/10

“Under Elder’s nurturing aegis, the Hallé strings sound more enormous than ever in the slow movement, but they can scamper nimbly in the Vivacissimo scherzo...The cumulative power of the playing — and Elder’s certain grasp of the symphony’s architecture — builds to a powerful climax in this rapturously applauded live performance” Sunday Times, 12th May 2013

“The Hallé strings conjure up wonderful dark hues in the opening of Pohjola, and a silvery lightness to underpin the dancing woodwind in The Oceanides. Elder's approach to the symphony is a measured, slow-burning one. He's careful not to ratchet up the drama too early” The Guardian, 16th May 2013 ****

“Elder’s reading [of The Oceanides] is fabulous – the massive, crashing climax powerfully judged, the music on the edge of collapse for a few fleeting seconds...You’d buy this disc for the two tone poems...[the Symphony] isbrilliantly played, but it sounds a little too self-consciously epic and self-important.” The Arts Desk, 18th May 2013

“Elder seems fully in tune with the true essence of the [Symphony] and his orchestra plays it very well indeed...there are three admirable Sibelius performances here. The orchestral playing throughout matches the very high standards that we’ve come to expect from this team.” MusicWeb International, 22nd May 2013

“under Elder, [Pohjola's Daughter is] a primal folktale rather than an urbane fantasy...[in the Symphony] Elder's elemental strength, relieved by a sense of light and space and the Halle's intense playing, help to make this highly recommendable.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2013 *****

“Eschewing Romantic byways, Boult projects the music with cogency and a forcefulness bordering on the brusque. While smooth progress from one episode to the next is de rigueur, he is particularly successful at conveying the elemental power of the Prelude to The Tempest...” Gramophone Magazine, December 2009

“Pohjola's Daughter toughens for some raw, fiery excitement, with screaming winds and powerful brass, and a genuinely atmospheric close. Furthermore, Levi is keenly responsive to the noble chorale themes in Finlandia and the Karelia Suite (Tempo di menuetto), coaxing his strings to achieve quartet-style intimacy and inflecting phrases with a delicate ear.” Gramophone Magazine