I've loved most of the Sibelius for many years but until recently the Sixth seemed to elude me. I've never seen it programmed in a Concert although I have heard all the other Symphonies in concerts repeatedly.
I first started to develop an appreciation of it from a Colin Davis/LSO recording (from a Sibelius cycle that reportedly sold all of 800 copies in the US, right as the major labels started tanking their Classical Divisions), but I recently have become enamored with a DVD-A of an early 60s recording of the work 9coupled with 5 & 7) by Maurice Abravanel and the Utah SO, which I obtained for the princely sum of 99 cents.
Abravanel seems to have the perfect approach. The melodies soar with a gossamer lightness. The textures (no doubt aided by the High Resolution reproduction) are luminous. The Utah Orchestra was a third tier Orchestra at that time but their strings sound wonderful (their Concert Master as the former Boston Principal, Joseph Silverstein). Their weakness were primarily in the brass and that is not much of a liability in this work.
For comparison I played the Barbirolli/Halle, another mid 1960s recording with a Great Conductor leading a (supposedly) less than first tier Orchestra. Actually, I thought the level of Orchestral playing was very good. Certainly the brass and winds were superior to Utah, and if the strings didn't have quite the same sheen they were quite good. Although I really enjoy the rest of that Sibelius cycle, I think that Barbirolli tries to drive the music and force some climaxes, whereas with the Utah recording the music just seems to flow and the points register without trying.
I first started to develop an appreciation of it from a Colin Davis/LSO recording (from a Sibelius cycle that reportedly sold all of 800 copies in the US, right as the major labels started tanking their Classical Divisions), but I recently have become enamored with a DVD-A of an early 60s recording of the work 9coupled with 5 & 7) by Maurice Abravanel and the Utah SO, which I obtained for the princely sum of 99 cents.
Abravanel seems to have the perfect approach. The melodies soar with a gossamer lightness. The textures (no doubt aided by the High Resolution reproduction) are luminous. The Utah Orchestra was a third tier Orchestra at that time but their strings sound wonderful (their Concert Master as the former Boston Principal, Joseph Silverstein). Their weakness were primarily in the brass and that is not much of a liability in this work.
For comparison I played the Barbirolli/Halle, another mid 1960s recording with a Great Conductor leading a (supposedly) less than first tier Orchestra. Actually, I thought the level of Orchestral playing was very good. Certainly the brass and winds were superior to Utah, and if the strings didn't have quite the same sheen they were quite good. Although I really enjoy the rest of that Sibelius cycle, I think that Barbirolli tries to drive the music and force some climaxes, whereas with the Utah recording the music just seems to flow and the points register without trying.
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