BaL 18.05.19 - Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Suite, Op.22

[Master Jacques]

I turned it back on at the very end. A very curious final choice, methinks, given the thin sound, undistinguished playing, scrabbling speeds and disconcerting lack of poetry of Paavo's (certainly compared to Järvi Snr. on BIS). Mr Mellor was "going his own way", but it certainly wasn't Sibelius's - nor Andrew MacGregor's either, from the detached way he gave the details.

Thank the Lord for the sceptical, articulate intelligence of Anna Pickard, which restored much-needed quality to the show. This Andrew Mellor chap is not to be trusted, big time.

[HighlandDougie]

Andrew Mellor compares recordings of Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen Suite, quotes are from him.

We open with a few seconds from the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam; sounds magical, but it would have been nice to hear a few minutes more rather than suffer the two-fer chat.

Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mikko Franck follows, "momentum suffers in this recording".

Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Järvi is praised for "releasing the music wonderfully", "elemental feel", "power of horns", "momentum so well handled".

Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä (1999) is "garbled and too fast and we certainly lose some detail".

Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen "orchestral playing so good", virtuosity of LA players really gets the bird song right "without disturbing bigger tapestry".

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu - "huge arching roof" of first movement, needs smoothness, "this is lumpy"... Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Petri Sakari show how to get the stricture right "a very, very fine recording" BUT Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Järvi has the same qualities with "a much, much better orchestra".

Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä (1999) gets to open the Swan - "a masterstroke of production". 1999 is generally preferred to 2007, but the Swan development section of 2007 is played and declared "very special" [it does sound it - shiver down the spine experience for me...] "strings so wonderful, mysterious".

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hannu Lintu's Swan "is a little straight necked".

Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen get to open L in T, they have the swan third, good for symphonic momentum, but destroys narrative sense. Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam's (1994) brass is [rightly!] praised

First and only Brit. mention! London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis "a little polite and smooth, smooth in the wrong sort of way". He's not on the short list. "Beautiful incantation... wonderful cello... but low on energy throughout".

Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Järvi is particularly notable [again!] in the third movement. I think this may be the front runner...

Final movement, perpetual motion ride is demonstrated by Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam, "rich, confident sound". Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen LA gets the hooves clipping BUT doesn't handle the gear change well. Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Järvi gets it right... and this is the winner... led all the way really and came home an easy winner.

The performance I have, Neeme Järvi (Göteborgs Symfoniker), holds up quite well against his son's effort, I feel, so I'll probably not be purchasing the winner.

Many thanks, Mal. No need to listen (and the Paavo Järvi on Virgin Classics has long been a favorite in this thrilling work. Fantastic playing by the brass.

[Mal]

How does that compare with the BIS one, Mal?

Haven't listened to the BIS, from reviews I read before purchase (many moons ago... before streaming...) honours seemed about even. I had all the symphonies on CD, but no tone poems, and the DG set seemed a good way to fix that at a bargain price... and I haven't been disappointed.

[MickyD]

Haven't listened to the BIS, from reviews I read before purchase (many moons ago... before streaming...) honours seemed about even. I had all the symphonies on CD, but no tone poems, and the DG set seemed a good way to fix that at a bargain price... and I haven't been disappointed.

OK, thanks...I didn't even know he had done them for DG. I think I'll stick with what I have, though the sound of the newer Vanska tempts me.

[DracoM]

Concertgebuow / Esa-Pekka Salonen? Available on utube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2u0CfKLwTg

[Mal]

... Paavo Järvi on Virgin Classics has long been a favorite in this thrilling work. Fantastic playing by the brass.

Unfortunately it only seems to be available on CD in a two-fer with bad presentation values(:)):

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/RLFCBMKUPYGYE/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00151HZ6K

Neeme's 3CD set comes with a nice booklet containing good summaries of the legends, and the translations needed for some of the other tone poems:

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Sibelius-Tone-poems-Jean/dp/B0009W4LLI

[visualnickmos]

The final choice ;

I thought it was a worthy "winner" actually, but hasten to add that the majority of the excerpts played all had their merits, and would have fitted the brief (if I can say "fitted briefs!")

Salonen's with the LAPO sounded very good. Lintu with the Finnish Radio Orchestra(?) didn't grab me at all, and I think Mr Mellor was not too impressed!

In short, for me at least, it is a work which has a vast number of recommendable recordings, of which we on here, no doubt have our own favoured versions.

A pity Ormandy with his usual band, wasn't mentioned - nla, perhaps?

[Mal]

Concertgebuow / Esa-Pekka Salonen? Available on utube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2u0CfKLwTg

First movement seemed a bit slow, lacking momentum, and too much coughing... so I'm afraid I gave up after ten minutes. OK, maybe not giving this class outfit a fair chance, but Neeme's so good all the way through that I'm only considering those who start at least as well as him... without coughing!

[jayne lee wilson]

I turned it back on at the very end. A very curious final choice, methinks, given the thin sound, undistinguished playing, scrabbling speeds and disconcerting lack of poetry of Paavo's (certainly compared to Järvi Snr. on BIS). Mr Mellor was "going his own way", but it certainly wasn't Sibelius's - nor Andrew MacGregor's either, from the detached way he gave the details.

Thank the Lord for the sceptical, articulate intelligence of Anna Pickard, which restored much-needed quality to the show. This Andrew Mellor chap is not to be trusted, big time.

Have you not read his Gramophone articles and reviews on various Scandi composers and a wide range of contemporary music? Most of which are very engagingly written and have led me to several discoveries. (e.g. Aulis Sallinen).
This very month he's done an excellent Collection survey on the Nielsen Violin Concerto with some fascinating and unexpected conclusions...

I'll catch up with this BaL later.....

[vinteuil]

.

Many thanks, Mal. No need to listen (and the Paavo Järvi on Virgin Classics has long been a favorite in this thrilling work. Fantastic playing by the brass.

.

Unfortunately it only seems to be available on CD in a two-fer with bad presentation values(:)):

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/custrl]

... or here :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000002SQY

or perhaps even more temptingly here :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0040UEICM

.

[BBMmk2]

I won’t have to buy the winning version. I’ll stick with a Jarvi Snr!

[LMcD]

I won’t have to buy the winning version. I’ll stick with a Jarvi Snr!

Ditto, sticking with Gibson/SNO

[pastoralguy]

Ditto, sticking with Gibson/SNO

Did they get a mention?

[DracoM]

First movement seemed a bit slow, lacking momentum, and too much coughing... so I'm afraid I gave up after ten minutes. OK, maybe not giving this class outfit a fair chance, but Neeme's so good all the way through that I'm only considering those who start at least as well as him... without coughing!

Yes, I wasn't for a moment suggesting this was the definitive at all - just that it was a v. decent orchestra conducted by one who knows the score, and got the band playing, and certainly gave an impression one could live with it as a perf. The final movement I found pretty exciting stuff.

[Barbirollians]

I only caught the end from the Davis extract onwards - last few minutes of another twofer . The extracts from the winner did nothing for me - will be sticking with SNO/Gibson.