This is, what, the fourth recording of the late Paavo Berglund
in these symphonies? Helsinki Philharmonic, then Bournemouth,
then Chamber Orchestra of Europe, all for different labels,
and now the London Philharmonic is releasing these live recordings
from 2003 to show Berglund’s artistry in the concert setting.
I can’t claim to have heard every Berglund reading - I
have the Helsinki ones and can access the COE discs via Naxos
Music Library; the Bournemouth cycle will be reissued in January
- but I can give you a short summary of this CD: very good performances,
not dissimilar from their ancestors, and with sound that falls
on the messier end of the live-concert spectrum.
The Fifth is very good. The ending of the first movement is
maybe the tiniest bit stodgy and stiff, but the ending of the
finale is truly, utterly glorious, except for one of those final
chords - the fourth-to-last - which is weirdly longer than the
rest. The French horns really do themselves proud throughout,
most memorably when the finale modulates to glorious C major
and Berglund asks them to play as loudly and resoundingly as
possible.
On the other hand, the opening of the Sixth seems to exhibit
a certain lack of direction; nuances and details finely shaped
by conductors like Blomstedt or Maazel (Pittsburgh) go unnoticed,
and there’s something just a little more matter-of-fact
about the proceedings. The allegretto’s climax sags and
comes off with unusual slowness, the whole movement clocking
in at 6:19 - compare to Vanska, 6:31, or Berglund himself in
Helsinki, 5:32. The finale is in keeping with Berglund’s
personal hallmark: he has always taken the last movement of
the Sixth very slowly, stretching it to around eleven minutes
and underscoring the almost tragic way in which it seems to
lose its path and fade into silence. It’s very well-done,
and the Swan of Tuonela makes a gorgeous encore, although
it does mean that after the triumph of the Fifth the CD ends
on a decidedly down note. Why not Swan-Six-Five? And why not
tell us who the cor anglais soloist is?
On the sound: there’s quite a bit of audience noise, coughing
and squirming and seat-squeaking, throughout. The acoustic has
that radio quality of all the orchestral sections seeming bigger
and boomier than normal. The violins’ phrasing is, at
times, quite clearly something recorded in a single take without
patch-ups. This isn’t like live recordings from Pittsburgh
on Exton or indeed from London in more recent years, in which
you’d be hard-pressed to find any evidence of an audience
or of orchestral imperfections.
Essential? No. Enjoyable? Yes. For the Sixth my top recommendations
remain Blomstedt, Maazel (Pittsburgh) and Berglund in Helsinki;
for the Fifth I still advise Bernstein, Blomstedt and, again,
Berglund in Helsinki. But I’ve heard great things about
Berglund’s recordings in Bournemouth, so check back in
January.
Brian Reinhart
Masterwork Index: Sibelius Symphony
5 ~~ Symphony
6
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London Philharmonic Orchestra/Paavo Berglund 