Sibelius: The Oceanides, Op. 73 (Aallottaret)

“If Beecham's mood-finding in Pelléas et Mélisande is hit-and-miss, his and the RPO's way with the other works is spellbinding: Tapiola here has an almost agonising wildness and beauty. Clear, substantial sound for the vintage.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2008 *****

“EMI’s Great Recordings of the Century is exactly what it says: these classic interpretations warrant a place in everybody’s collection” The Times

“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

“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

“The playing is unfailingly beautiful and idiomatic.” Classics Today

“Anyone who has already encountered the Lahti/Vänskä partnership in Sibelius will know to expect performances of great vitality and freshness. And the expectation is fully met – perhaps even surpassed; in these tone poems he simply allows his profound grasp of musical inner workings to dictate the course of events. The trenchant Lahti strings, the ecstatically floating woodwind and the rasping brass all play their part. But while their contributions are gripping in their own right, they're the more impressive for being so precisely placed at the service of the music's larger-scale unfolding.
Each of the longer works feels as though composer and performers alike have imagined them in one huge mental breath. Vänskä knows exactly when and how much to hold back, when to push on, and, crucially, when simply to stand back and let the music tick over to the beat of some higher rhythm. The same sense of inevitability informs the more compact masterpieces – The Dryad and the extraordinarily cryptic The Bard. Only the Dance-Intermezzo, companion piece to The Dryad, is in any way negligible.
All the other tone poems have been recorded many times over, but rarely with such a consistent feeling of idiomatic rightness. (Vänskä himself has recorded the 1892 original version of En Saga as well – coupled with the original Fifth Symphony on a Gramophone Award-winning set, reviewed under Symphony No 5 – and a fascinating contrast it makes with the more compact 1902 revision offered here.) BIS's recording is of demonstration quality. An outstanding release.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Vänskä and his orchestra are utterly at home with the scores, but never routine or matter of fact. From the poignant harp chords that begin The Bard to the restless Night Ride and Sunrise every gesture counts, and every sound is beautifully caught...this latest offering from BIS is brilliant, one of the best recordings of Sibelius I've heard for a long time.” John Armstrong, bbc.co.uk, 20th November 2002