MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW
BARGAIN OF THE MONTH


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: Crotchet

 

Jean SIBELIUS (1865–1957)
Symphony No.4 in A minor, op.63 (1911) [38:41]
Symphony No.5 in E flat, op.82 (1915/1919) [32:09]
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Herbert von Karajan
rec. 27-28 December 1976 (op.63); September, October 1976 (op.82), Philharmonie, Berlin). ADD
CLASSICS FOR PLEASURE 5218722 [71:24]
Experience Classicsonline

Let me be quite honest with you. I was looking forward to hearing this disk so I could tell you that Karajan in 1976 hadn’t got a real grip on Sibelius, unlike his Philharmonia recordings from the 1950s. Oh yes, I was looking forward to giving this disk a real panning!
 
However. After eating mouthfuls of humble pie - without custard and cream - I can admit that I was wrong and tell you that this is simply one of the very, very best recorded performances of Sibelius’s 4th Symphony I’ve ever heard. It is quite staggering. First of all, you need to turn the volume right up to get the full feel of the dynamic range then you are in for a real experience. The first movement, with its huge brass cries, angular string writing and general feeling of otherworldliness, is brought fully to life in a performance of such stature that it is truly horrifying. There are a couple of seemingly slightly tentative brass entries, but Karajan builds the tension slowly and deliberately with hair-raising inevitability. The scherzo which follows it is light and airy until the tempo is halved and we’re back in that other place. Karajan plays the slow movement as if it were one of Bruckner’s monumental Adagios, allowing the music to grow from the simple germ of the flute idea at the start. The climax, when it comes, is massive and all-embracing – didn’t Mahler tell Sibelius that the Symphony had to encompass the whole world? That’s how Karajan sees it and it is overwhelming. The finale, with its gleam of hope in the sound of the glockenspiel, still seems desperate in its utterance. Karajan keeps a tight rein on the music and even the slight slowing of tempo, after the big climax, works as part of his conception. Then we are left with bleak unison As. No victory, no hard-won battle this, just a resignation to the inevitable.
 
Some may find some of the sound too sumptuous for this most bleak of Sibelius’s symphonies, but that must not cloud your judgement for this is a performance of such stature and power that it cannot, and must not, be ignored.
 
Might I mention that the very best recording of this Symphony is by Tauno Hannikainen and the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, which was available here on Russian Melodiya (DO 4794) for a short time in the 1960s (and now on CD: Bearac BRC-2861 at admin@bearacreissues.com). His is a performance of elemental power, the feeling of the cold Finnish landscape filtered through and across the Russian Steppes. We will never hear another performance like that ever again and it is an LP well worth searching out and good luck in your search. If you manage to find a copy you will not be disappointed. Until you can get your hands on that disc get this and be amazed at, and admire, the sheer breadth of Karajan’s vision. Stunning.
 
Karajan’s handling of the 5th Symphony is almost equally fine, but it lacks the searing vision which fills the performance of the 4th Symphony. But it is good – the opening section of the tripartite first movement hits exactly the right tempo and feel. It moves gently forwards, the discussion between the woodwinds is lovely, the second section, with tremolando strings accompanying distant bassoon is suitably mysterious and the build up to the transition to the Allegro is skilfully handled. The only flaw in the whole movement is at the very end where an over-abundance of drums spoils the overall musical effect. The slow movement is well paced and the gentle variations, woodwind led, are delightful. The finale, with its rushing strings and second subject suggestive of a flock of birds flying overhead, is magnificent but the slow build up to the final peroration is slightly too fast and the music is robbed of some of its gravitas. The final hammer blows really are too fast and not sufficiently widely spaced to make their full effect. Barbirolli, in his excellent recording with the Halle (EMI CMS 5672992 – see review), is much to be preferred here.
 
Containing such a magnificent performance of the 4th Symphony, and despite my slight reservations concerning the 5th Symphony, this is an outstanding bargain and should be on every record shelf.
 
Bob Briggs
 
 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.