BaL 5.06.21 - Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30am
Building a Library
Leah Broad talks to Andrew with a recommendation for Sibelius’s enduringly beautiful violin concerto to buy, download or stream.

Available versions:-

Salvatore Accardo, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis
Adele Anthony, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Arvo Volmer
Adele Anthony, Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Rico Saccani
Charles Barkel, Stockholm Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Tor Mann
Lisa Batiashvili, Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim
Lisa Batiashvili, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo *
Danilo Belardinelli, Orchestra dell’Accademia di S Cecilia, Joseph Keilberth
Boris Belkin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy
Joshua Bell, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen *
Vadim Brodski, National Polish Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, Jerzy Salwarowski *
Guila Bustabo, Staatskapelle Berlin, Fritz Zaun
Alfredo Campoli, BBC SO, Sir John Barbirolli
Alfredo Campoli, BBC SO, Sir John Barbirolli (DVD)
Sarah Chang, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Mariss Jansons *
Kyung Wha Chung, London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn
Jan Damen, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Eduard van Beinum
Jan Damen. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Pierre Monteux *
Angèle Dubeau, Bulgarian Radio Symphony, Ivan Marinov *
Sigrun Eovaldsdottir, Iceland Symphony Orchestra *
Pavel Eret, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Leos Svarovsky *
Tobias Feldmann, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Christian Ferras, Berliner Philharmoniker, Herbert von Karajan
Zino Francescatti, New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein
Vilde Frang, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Thomas Søndergård
Bronislaw Gimpel, RIAS Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Lehmann
Ivry Gitlis, Wiener Symphoniker, Jascha Horenstein
Ivry Gitlis, New York Philharmonic, George Szell
Stephanie Gonley, Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria, Adrian Leaper *
Ilya Gringolts, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Neeme Järvi
Augustin Hadelich, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Hannu Lintu
Ida Haendel, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ancerl
Ida Haendel, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Paavo Berglund *
Ida Haendel, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Basil Cameron
Ida Haendel, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta
Hilary Hahn, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen
Jascha Heifetz, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Thomas Beecham
Jascha Heifetz, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Walter Hendl *
Jascha Heifetz, New York Philharmonic, Dimitri Mitropoulos *
Jascha Heifetz, Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski
Philippe Hirschhorn, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Uri Segal
Yuzuko Horigome, National Orchestra of Belgium, Georges Octors *
Václav Hudecek,
Fenella Humphreys, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, George Vass
Anja Ignatius, Berlin Municipal Orchestra, Armas Jarnefelt *
Liana Isakadze, USSR State Academic Symphony Orchestra, Alexander Lazarev
Leila Josefowicz, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Oleg Kagan, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tauno Hannikainen *
Dong-Suk Kang, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Adrian Leaper
Leonidas Kavakos, Berliner Philharmoniker, Simon Rattle (DVD/Blu-ray)
Leonidas Kavakos, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä
Nigel Kennedy, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle
Sergey Khachatryan, Sinfonia Varsovia, Emmanuel Krivine *
Henning Kraggerud, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Bjarte Engeset
Gidon Kremer, Philharmonia Orchestra, Riccardo Muti
Georg Kulenkampff, Berliner Philharmoniker, Wilhelm Furtwängler
Hu Kun, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Yehudi Menuhin
Pekka Kuusisto, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Leif Segerstam
Mischa Lefkowitz, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, David Amos *
Cho-Liang Lin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen
Silvia Marcovici, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Neeme Järvi
Yehudi Menuhin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult *
Midori, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta
Shlomo Mintz, Berliner Philharmoniker, James Levine
Viktoria Mullova, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Staatskapelle Dresden, André Previn
Ginette Neveu, Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind, Issay Dobroven
David Oistrakh, Stockholm Festival Orchestra, Sixten Ehrling
David Oistrakh, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Nils-Eric Fougstedt *
David Oistrakh, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy
Edith Peinemann, SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Ernest Bour
Itzhak Perlman, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf
Itzhak Perlman, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, André Previn
Jennifer Pike, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis (SACD)
Julian Rachlin, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Lorin Maazel
Vadim Repin, London Symphony Orchestra, Emmanuel Krivine
Ruggiero Ricci, Symphonieorchester des Hessischen Rundfunks, Dean Dixon
Ruggiero Ricci, Bochum Symphony Orchestra, Matthias Kuntzsch
Aaron Rosand, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Kees Bakels
Svetlin Roussev, Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Emil Tabakov *
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, London Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas *
Diomedes Saraza Jr., Manila Symphony Orchestra
Katrin Scholz, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchesta, Michael Sanderling *
Sergiu Schwartz, London Symphony Orchestra, Paul Freeman *
Gil Shaham, Philharmonia Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli
Sayaka Shoji, St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Yuri Temirkanov *
Vassily Sinaisky, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Valdis Zarin�
Dmitry Sitkovetsky, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Baiba Skride, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Santtu-Matias Rouvali
Tossy Spivakovsky, London Symphony Orchestra, Tauno Hannikainen
Isaac Stern, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas Beecham *
Isaac Stern, Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy *
Akiko Suwanai, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo
Joseph Swensen, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Henryk Szeryng, Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, Hiroyuki Iwaki
Henryk Szeryng, London Symphony Orchestra, Gennady Rozhdestvensky *
Gerhard Taschner, Kölner Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester, Herbert Sandberg
Emil Telmanyi, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Jensen
Christian Tetzlaff, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Thomas Dausgaard *
Christian Tetzlaff, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Robin Ticciati
Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Pablo González
Ayana Tsuji, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Giancarlo Guerrero
Masuko Ushioda, Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
Mikhail Vaiman
Maxim Vengerov , Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim
Zhi-Jong Wang, Philharmonia Orchestra, Thomas Sanderling
Camilla Wicks, Standard Symphony Orchestra, John Barnett *
Endre Wolf, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Sixten Eckerberg *
Yuval Yaron, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt
Esther Yoo, Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy *
Soyoung Yoon, Gorzów Philharmonic Orchestra, Piotr Borkowski *
Valdis Zarins, Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, Vassily Sinaisky, Paul Magi
Frank Peter Zimmermann, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgårds
Pinchas Zukerman, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Barenboim


* = download only

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

... though I did think you had to "buy" downloads. I wonder what the Radio 3 webpage writers do, once they've completed their work experience.

[DracoM]

How the heck does ANY reviewer work through THAT!

[pastoralguy]

There's also an Ida Haendel version that she recorded live with Sir Simon and the CBSO which is extremely good. It's on The Testament label c/w the Elgar Concerto.

[pastoralguy]

How the heck does ANY reviewer work through THAT!

Simple. Choose one of Ida Haendel's as a first choice and then decide which of her other versions should be runners-up. All the rest can go to land fill or to scare birds...

Simples!

[Bryn]

Leonidas Kavakos, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Osmo Vänskä (both versions).

[vibratoforever]

Simple. Choose one of Ida Haendel's as a first choice and then decide which of her other versions should be runners-up. All the rest can go to land fill or to scare birds...

Simples!

Have you heard or indeed seen the Campoli/Barbirolli? Magnificent!

[pastoralguy]

Yes, I have seen/heard Campoli's. Extremely good but not Ida Haendel. (For me, he gets a bit tired in the last movement). Surprisingly, the first time I've seen Campoli play.

(Actually, before anyone asks, I've heard the majority of the versions listed).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I haven't heard any of the Haendel versions. I have Campoli, Kulenkampff, Chung and Mullova, and the last of these is the best of the four. I suspect I have others recordings in mixed box sets.

[makropulos]

I’m sure the Camilla Wicks/Sixten Ehrling is around as a download and I think it was fairly recently in a Profil box of Wicks recordings. That along with Haendel/Ancerl are my favourites.

[Darloboy]

A work that is covered pretty regularly by BaL. In Nov 80, Edward Greenfield chose Chung with LSO/Previn. In Oct 88 John Warrack picked Kennedy/Rattle with Neveu/Susskind runner-up. In Jan 04 Roderick Swanston chose Joshua Bell/Salonen with Lin/Salonen as mid-price choice; Kremer/Muti as budget-price choice; and Neveu/Susskind and Heifetz/Beecham as historic choices. Last time out, in April 09, Ivan Hewett chose Mullova/Ozawa.

Perhaps surprising that the Kavakos/Vänskä 1991 coupling of both versions of the concerto hasn't featured at all.

[Alison]

Who is Leah Broad?

[Bryn]

Who is Leah Broad?

https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/staff/dr-leah-broad ?

[BBMmk2]

I have, as part of the Decca box set of Sibelius Great Performances, Ruggiero Ricci, LSO, Øivenn Fjeldstadt, Heifetz (CSO, Walter Mendl), looks like I’ll have to buy at least two more!

[mikealdren]

I have a few that must be nla: Tasmin Little, Midori, Oistrakh/Rozhdestvensky, Julian Sitkovetsky and Zehetmair.

I haven't yet heard the Campoli, not a work I would have associated with him so I'm looking forward to it, a shame that AMcG chose to play the Du Pre Elgar and didn't really comment on the Sibelius.

It'll be an interesting shortlist because there are so many fine recordings and several excellent recent ones. For me, I still have Oistrakh imprinted on the work.