Colin Davis’ Sibelius is well-known and regarded but surprisingly some key Sibelius recordings of his with the Boston Symphony have never made it to CD. These include ‘Pohjola’s Daughter’ and ‘En saga’. His ‘Karelia Suite’ is rare at best. Together with Valse Triste’ and ‘Tapiola’, these make up an excellent disc of Sibelius Tone Poems.
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.
Eduard van Beinum was quite a Sibelius pioneer and collected here are his complete Sibelius recordings for Decca and Philips. The set also marks the first appearance on CD of his Violin Concerto in a 1952 performance by Jan Damen (a former leader of the Concertgebouw) and the London Philharmonic. A collector’s haven, this 2CD […]
Nielsen’s six symphonies are the backbone of his compositional career. His bold and individual melodies and fresh-sounding ideas marked him out immediately as an individual voice among the new music of the day. The concertos were written for his friends, the members of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet. Only two were completed before his death, the […]
