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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Kajanus Conducts Sibelius, Vol. 3
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. | 
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| |  | Sibelius - Symphonies 1, 2, 3 & 5
Jean Sibelius was born in 1865 as Julius Christian but adopted the French equivalent and is now always known as such. He soon established himself as Finland’s greatest composer and the most powerful symphonist to have come from Scandinavia and the countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. The first work to be composed in this collection recorded by Mariss Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra is arguably his most famous: Finlandia, written in 1899, which shows his strong belief in national self-determination for his homeland and against Russian rule. Works flowed quickly as by 1902 he had already completed his Second Symphony (both this and his First are in this set). His Valse Triste became very popular and throughout the world and tended temporarily to mask his other achievements, The Third Symphony tended to be overlooked as it was less romantic, more classical in form and was also distinct from the more brooding later symphonies; now it is becoming more performed and appreciated as part of the great canon. Of the later Symphonies the Fifth is certainly the most popular, the dark gloom of the Fourth (no doubt due to the suspected throat cancer) had been replaced by brightness with melodies that truly sing. The gradual accelerando in the third movement is breathtaking in its excitement ending in a titanic coda where themes from the first and third movements are recalled, the final bars of loud staccato chords are both spell-binding in their originality and brilliant in their effect. The last work from the set to be composed, Andante Festivo, was written in 1922 for string quartet just before the Sixth Symphony, he later expanded it for string orchestra. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Sibelius - Symphonies Nos. 3 & 6
Thomas Zehetmair, Music Director of Northern Sinfonia returns as both soloist and conductor with a new recording of Symphonies 3 & 6 by Jean Sibelius and Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto. All three works were recorded at the home of Northern Sinfonia, The Sage Gateshead and follow critically acclaimed Mozart recordings with Imogen Cooper and a Brahms/Schumann CD which was CD of the month in BBC Music Magazine (July 2007). Sibelius’ Symphony No. 3 in C major was premiered in 1907 and many argue that it is here that Sibelius’ powers first display themselves in full regalia while Symphony No. 6 (1923) is the purest, most inward, almost hypnotic of his works and in many ways the most fascinating of his symphonies. The Violin Concerto in D, very representative of Stravinsky’s neo-Classical period, received its first performance in Berlin in October 1931 with the composer himself conducting the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Northern Sinfonia with its Music Director Thomas Zehetmair command a unique position in Europe, with repertoire spanning three centuries and regularly commissioned new works. Autumn 2008 marked the start of the Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary Season and its fourth year in its own spectacular Norman Foster designed home for music, The Sage Gateshead, wthere it is central to the extensive classical programme. "With its breathtaking Foster architecture, revolutionary intermingling of educational, community and professional music-making, and passionate support from Gateshead Council, The Sage Gateshead has quickly become the most exciting music venue in Britain — and Northern Sinfonia has raised its game to match its new home." The Times “His tempi… are unsensational and highly effective, and he inspires readings of great expressive intensity.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2009 “With its rhythmic thrust and counterthrust, does the job well, especially given the conductor-come-soloist Thomas Zehetmair’s taut, precisely coloured and articulated reading and the extraordinarily alert response of the excellent Northern Sinfonia. Their wind and brass players, especially, rise to the occasion.” Sunday Times, 31st May 2009 **** “Thomas Zehetmair directs the concerto from the violin; he brings the work alive marvellously, pirouetting his way through the central pair of arias like an operatic diva, and dispatching the outer movements with tremendous élan.” The Guardian, 29th May 2009 **** “This framing of the Russian gadfly's neoclassical Violin Concerto in D with the sorrowful Finn's resinous Third and watery Sixth Symphonies is remarkably persuasive.” The Independent on Sunday, 21st June 2009 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Sibelius - Symphonies Nos. 1-4
“Very strong accounts from Berglund's second cycle, especially the vigorous First and gigantic Fourth…” BBC Music Magazine, January 2006 *** | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 7
“one of the finest performances of Sibelius's Seventh ever to have gone down on disc” Classic FM Magazine “Mature wisdom and beautiful playing from the LSO” The Times, 10th May 2013 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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High on the list of requests for reissues from Decca are Anthony Collins's recordings of Sibelius's symphonies. Lovingly remastered from the original tapes, they make their first CD appearance on the Decca label as two 2-CD sets. “The name Anthony Collins (1893-1963) probably doesn't mean a great deal to the majority of younger Gramophone readers, but for quite a few serious Sibelius aficionados his 1950s Decca recordings hold cult status. Collins's readings possess a red-blooded fervour and thrusting energy to which many will rightly respond” Gramophone Magazine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4
Uppsala Kammarorkester, Paul Mägi The Uppsala Chamber Orchestra is regarded by many as one of the finest chamber orchestras in Sweden. The orchestra is characterized by its flexibility in various styles, from early baroque to contemporary music, and its exquisite orchestral sound, both warm and lustrous. Paul Mägi took over from Howard Shelley in 2004 as the orchestra’s principle conductor. They perform on this new recording for Swedish Society, Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 by Sibelius. | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3
Talented young Finnish-born Pietari Inkinen conducts the internationally acclaimed New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in poetic and sweeping performances of his compatriot’s Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3. This is the first volume in a new Naxos series. “With this disc they start a cycle of the symphonies, and meet the challenge with a sensitivity and mellow charm that often eludes more virtuoso orchestras...the performance [of No. 1] has atmosphere and character. And by coupling it with the Third, Inkinen underlines the huge shift in creative thinking that separates the two works.” Financial Times, 25th September 2010 **** “Inkinen seems a conductor of bold, sure-footed intelligence, and on this evidence the New Zealand orchestra is a fine, responsive unit, too. In the First Symphony, Inkinen is more successful than I've ever heard before in purging the work of Tchaikovsky's influence...It's a fierce, sometimes confrontational approach...but certainly a valid and exciting one.” The Guardian, 14th October 2010 **** “This enigmatic piece [the Fourth]...demands both sombre mystery and striking sunlight in its first movement, and Inkinen does evoke them successfully if slowly, with some fine brass playing. The scherzo's lightness turns appropriately feverish in the trio.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2011 *** | | | (also available to download from $6.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Sibelius - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3
"The 3rd Symphony recorded live from the sell out concert at Bridgewater Hall, of which the critics said “the first movement took wings, and the third was rich in orchestral colours”. Manchester Evening News “Sir Mark Elder's new recordings, one in studio, the other live from the Bridgewater Hall, are still very much in the British Sibelius vein established by Barbirolli, Anthony Collins and Alexander Gibson among others - forthright, intense, but avoiding Teutonic weight of Slav grandiosity.” BBC Music Magazine, April 2009 **** “Sir Mark Elder's… recording of the First Symphony… thoughtful and…carefully prepared. Throughout Elder looks for significant detail, heightening string sawings more often viewed as accompanimental and even reintroducing touches of portamento redolent of the Barbirolli era.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2009 “Mark Elder's vividly detailed reading draws resinous solos from the Hallé woodwind. In the Nordic Third Symphony, dynamic bowing and weighty pizzicato figures complement the brass. It's a measure of how confident the Hallé is that the difference between its studio (No 1) and live (No 3) recordings is imperceptible.” The Independent on Sunday, 3rd May 2009 “Elder has raised the stakes even higher than his illustrious predecessor did: just listen to the gorgeous wind-playing, especially the flutes in the flute-friendly C major symphony (No 3), to hear what I mean...The playing and recording, are first-class. Lucky Manchester.” Sunday Times, 26th April 2009 *** “Right from the first big theme you can feel Elder cajoling his Manchester band into giving the music that extra ounce of excitement.” The Telegraph, 7th April 2009 **** “The rhetorical thrust Sibelius inherited from the music of Tchaikovsky is downplayed in Sir Mark Elder's studio recording of the First Symphony so as to expose those compositional details which make the invention inescapably Sibelian. Throughout Elder looks for significant detail, heightening string sawings more often viewed as accompanimental and even reintroducing touches of portamento redolent of the Barbirolli era. He seems fascinated by the way Sibelius can make his music appear to move at different speeds at different levels of an orchestral texture. What's missing is the adrenalin rush of a speed merchant like Anthony Collins or the über-Romantic throb of Leonard Bernstein.
With the Third Symphony (taped live) Elder is on firmer ground. Sibelius seems to have intended to give the music a self-consciously cool attitude anticipating that defined in 1920 by his friend Ferrucio Busoni as Junge Klassizität or the 'New Classicality'. Its freshness has a studied air but who's to say it shouldn't have? The overall pacing is spacious with the finale fusing its various sections into a convincing proto-minimalist chug.
The back inlay quotes the claim by an unnamed Guardian critic (actually Tim Ashley) that the Hallé sound captures the composer's 'quintessential mix of frost and fire better than any other UK orchestra'. That may be pushing it. Still this is a thought-provoking pairing, finely recorded.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Sir John Barbirolli
“…the Sibelius… gets right to the heart of the matter, moving towards its blazing conclusion with a fantastic sense of inevitability - a classic single-breath performance. …in The Inextinguishable… the rushing scales heralding the finale are real edge-of-the-seat, devil-take-the-hindmost stuff, and the finale itself, though on the steady side, feels as though it is working through life-and-death issues, with the timpanists all but bursting the skins in their cannonades.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2007 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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