Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 in C major, Op. 105

Mark Obert-Thorn, producer and audio restoration engineer

Three historically significant première recordings of Sibelius symphonies are brought together on this reissue for the first time. Finnish conductor Georg Schnéevoigt was close to Sibelius and a perceptive interpreter of his music, making this lucid and controlled first recording of the Sixth Symphony following the death of Robert Kajanus, who was to have recorded the complete symphonies. Made during the Great Depression, Leopold Stokowski’s compelling performance of the Fourth Symphony reflects the composer’s ‘solitude and pain’. Renowned Russian conductor Serge Koussevitzky directs Sibelius’s final Seventh Symphony in a famously intense live performance.

Jean Sibelius (1865-1958) was one of the greatest symphonists of the 20th century and his music is as popular today as it was when he died over 50 years ago. This set contains the final four of Sibelius's seven symphonies, written between the years 1911 and 1924. Although he lived for almost another 30 years Sibelius wrote nothing after 1929. It is reputed that he wrote an Eighth Symphony but this is believed to have been destroyed by the composer.

The second volume of Anthony Collins's Sibelius cycle for Decca, expertly remastered for this reissue, brings the final three symphonies plus all the shorter works of Sibelius from Collins. As a bonus, Thomas Jensen's Karelia Suite, trim, taut and vivid, brings the set to a blazing finish

With this fourth volume, Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen completes his cycle of Sibelius’s numbered symphonies, of which the Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 (8572305) were acclaimed as ‘warm and poignant’ (Classical Music Sentinel), Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5 (8572227) as having ‘raw intensity’ (Guardian) and Symphony No. 2 (8572704) as ‘entrancing … highly recommended’ (Allmusic.com). The tranquil and sunny poetry of Symphony No. 6 joins the majestic single-movement Symphony No. 7, coupled with Finlandia, the work which established Sibelius’s fame and became a symbol of Finnish freedom.

When Barbirolli took over the Hallé in 1943, he soon electrified Manchester’s and other audiences with his interpretation of the Second Symphony. In this Barbirolli Society compilation four of the symphonies are included. The recording of the First was made on 30 and 31 December 1957 for Pye. He had recorded it with the New York Philharmonic in April 1942 and made another Hallé recording (for EMI) in December 1966. The recording of the Second, a Barbirolli favourite, was made for LP on 18 and 19 December 1952. His interpretation broadened slightly in later years, but this performance captures the fiery intensity he brought to the work in those first years in the new Free Trade Hall.

Barbirolli recorded the Fifth Symphony for Pye on 28 May 1957 (included in this set) and for HMV on 26-28 July 1966, both times with the Hallé. The symphony had a long and arduous gestation lasting from 1914 to 1919. Barbirolli included the Fifth Symphony in an Edinburgh Festival programme with the Hallé in 1948, the festival’s second year. The veteran critic of the Sunday Times, Ernest Newman, had not heard him conduct for over 20 years and wrote: “Of the Sibelius I do not hope ever to hear a more splendidly convincing performance. It was an inexpressible pleasure to see for once a great work gradually taking shape in performance as it must have done in the mind of the creator…” The Seventh Symphony is the ultimate expression of Sibelius’s method of fusion and fission. The recording was made for 78s by Sir John and the Hallé on 3 and 5 March 1949.

He recorded it again on 26-28 July 1966. He re-creates masterfully the extraordinarily powerful atmosphere of the work, from the rising scale with which it begins, the thrice-repeated trombone theme, the dazzling scherzo section and the sense of inevitable progression from darkness to light. The Swan of Tuonela began as an overture to an opera which Sibelius abandoned, but he used it as the second of the four movements of the Lemminkäinen suite. Tuonela is the Finnish Hades on which the black swan glides, singing as it goes back and forth. It is one of the most evocative pieces ever written for the cor anglais, which represents the swan, and in this performance, recorded on 12 January 1955, the solo is superbly played by Roger Winfield.