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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Sir John Barbirolli conducts Sibelius, Schubert & BrittenSaal 1, Funkhaus, Cologne, 7 February 1969
Sir John Barbirolli (1899–1970), born in London of Italian and French parentage, is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 1943 and conducted for the rest of his life. Earlier in his career he was Arturo Toscanini’s successor as music director of the New York Philharmonic, serving from 1936 to 1943. He was also chief conductor of the Houston Symphony from 1961 to 1967, and was a guest conductor of many other orchestras, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic, with all of which he made recordings. Both in the concert hall and on record, Barbirolli was particularly associated with the music of English composers such as Elgar, Delius and Vaughan Williams. His interpretations of other late-Romantic composers, such as Mahler and Sibelius, as well as of Classical and early-Romantic composers, including Schubert, are also very much admired. These recordings have never been released on CD before. They represent live accounts of music by composers with whom Barbirolli was very much associated, notably Schubert and Sibelius. Barbirolli never recorded Britten’s Serenade for tenor, horn and strings, so the present release represents a new addition to his large discography. It features the wonderful singing of Gerald English, who was closely associated with Britten, and the great horn-playing of the German master Hermann Baumann. The only other recording Barbirolli made of Schubert’s Symphony No.4 was with the New York Philharmonic in 1939, so this 1969 live performance with the KRSO in excellent stereo is essential for any collector in this great conductor’s work. Even though Barbirolli made four studio recordings of the Sibelius Symphony No.2, this performance in Cologne is live and has extra adrenalin and excitement. “The rarity here is a compelling performance of Britten’s Serenade...[English's] vocal timbre is clear, well-enunciated and youthful, contrasting with Barbirolli’s weighty, autumnal take on the piece...Barbirolli’s defiantly trenchant, smouldering Schubert 4 is a guilty pleasure. Better still is the conductor’s final performance of a favourite work, Sibelius’s Symphony no 2. Craggy, expansive and heartfelt, this is a supremely enjoyable, moving experience.” The Arts Desk, 13th April 2013 “We don't think of Barbirolli as specially associated with Britten's music...His response to the Serenade for tenor, horn and strings's range of sounds and moods is memorable nonetheless...Sibelius's Second Symphony is here an exemplary display of how to generate an enthralling voltage-level from the podium without pulling the music about.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2013 *** “the mixture of affection and drive in the performance [of the Schubert] makes for real pleasure...Gerald English sings with great subtlety, ease in the upper register, clear diction and an understanding of the music’s style...[the Sibelius] remains a performance that any admirer of the conductor will want to hear.” MusicWeb International, 23rd May 2013 | 
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| |  | Kajanus Conducts Sibelius, Vol. 2
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 “Real magic, from Sibelius's friend and rival Kajanus in well-transferred 1930s mono sound. The performances are fast, perhaps to fit 78rpm discs, yet rich and spirited.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2013 ***** |
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| |  | Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 & Karelia Suite
Pierre Monteux often bemoaned the fact that he was associated with the French and Russian repertoires, to the exclusion of music from outside of those traditions. He could hardly help it; after all, it was Monteux who conducted the first and famously chaotic performance of Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps in 1913. Nevertheless, he recorded all of Beethoven’s symphonies (some of them more than once) and all of Brahms’s, with the exception of the Fourth. He made only one recording of Sibelius’s Second. This came late in his career, in 1959, and was the only commercial recording he made of this composer’s music. Monteux conducts the score with evident affection, and with a lush romanticism that suggests the Mediterranean more than the cold waters of the Baltic Sea. Receiving its first international release on CD is Lorin Maazel’s recording of the Karelia Suite, made around the same time as his Vienna Philharmonic Sibelius cycle. Together with Monteux’s Sibelius Second, it is one of the most-requested reissues from the Decca catalogue. “Monteux's warm, large-scale reading - his only commercial Sibelius - reminds us the Second was written in Italy.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2013 *** “well-paced and finely-conceived … fresh recording quality and admirable body” Gramophone Magazine (Symphony) “I have been impressed by the sheer quality of the sound. It is bright without being overlit, rich without being excessively opulent, clean without being clinical: it is remarkably vivid and lifelike, a tribute to the Decca engineers of the day … The Vienna Philharmonic plays superbly well and Maazel's reading of the Karelia Suite has an authentic flavour and has genuine atmosphere” Gramophone Magazine (Karelia Suite) |
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| |  | Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5
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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. 2 & 5
This record brings together, for the first time, undoubtedly
inspired performances of two Sibelius symphonies – the
Second and the Fifth – conducted by Barbirolli, the first a
studio recording from 1962, the second a live BBC Henry
Wood Promenade Concert from 1968. “In the pantheon of essential Sibelius recordings, Barbirolli's October 1962 account of the Second Symphony with the RPO deservedly occupies a place of honour. Recorded at Walthamstow for Reader's Digest with Charles Gerhardt producing and Decca's legendary Kenneth Wilkinson as balance engineer, it finds Sir John at his inspirational best in a reading which marries outsize but never wilful temperament to edge-of-seat spontaneity and keen poetic instinct. The experience is very much akin to attending a live concert of one's dreams.
The deceptively tricky slow movement is particularly remarkable for its daring flexibility of pulse and line yet never threatens to run aground, while the stirring finale (its big string tune so fervently sung both times round) will have you on your feet long before the end. If you haven't yet made this famous performance's acquaintance, don't hesitate for an instant.
The coupling is a Fifth Symphony with Barbirolli's beloved Hallé from the 1968 Proms which, in strength of personality and palpable depth of feeling, has a lot going for it. As on this team's 1966 EMI recording, the opening pages have exactly the right sense of awe-struck wonder and pregnant growth, and in the second movement it's a joy to hear Sibelius's delicious pizzicato writing “speak” with such clarity and eloquence. The first half of the finale has vitality and atmosphere in abundance, but you might crave a greater nobility of utterance in the towering epilogue. A commendably unbronchial audience roars its approval. Despite any minor quibbles, JB's many fans should be well pleased that Testament has salvaged such a typically vibrant display from the BBC vaults.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Barbirolli's October 1962 account of the Second Symphony with the RPO… finds Sir John at his inspirational best in a reading which marries outsize but never wilful temperament to edge-of-seat spontaneity and keen poetic instinct. The coupling is a Fifth Symphony with Barbirolli's beloved Hallé from the 1968 Proms which, in strength of personality and palpable depth of feeling, has a lot going for it.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2008 “Two of the finest Sibelius perofrmances that Sir John ever recorded.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Sibelius: Symphony No. 2
"Thirty years after his Boston Symphony Orchestra recording of the Second Symphony - long regarded as a benchmark in this work - his enquiring mind is still finding subtly new ways of guiding listeners through the composer's musical logic. Here there was a real feeling of progression from the fragmentary motifs of the opening movement to the climatic 'big tune' of the finale" Daily Telegraph Concert Review A high density DSD recording, Barbican Centre on 27-28 September 2006
(Symphony No 2) 18 September-9 October 2005 (Pohjola's Daughter) “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 | | | 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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“Of all the cycles of Sibelius's symphonies recorded in recent years this is one of the most consistently successful. Ashkenazy so well understands the thought processes that lie behind Sibelius's symphonic composition just as he's aware, and makes us aware, of the development between the Second and Third Symphonies.
His attention to tempo is particularly acute and invariably he strikes just the right balance between romantic languor and urgency.
The Philharmonia plays for all it's worth and possesses a fine body of sound. The recordings are remarkably consistent in quality and effectively complement the composer's original sound world.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Sibelius - The Complete Symphonies, Volume 1
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