Early
and late; familiar and rarity – all drawn from EMI’s princely
analogue archive of the 1970s. This Gemini double strikes
a brave balance.
We
might be forgiven for forgetting that until this recording
of
Kullervo appeared in 1970 the symphony was pretty
much unknown – certainly unheard. This was its first commercial
recording. Berglund was still very new to the Bournemouth
orchestra but he quickly struck a rapport with his audience
in the South and West from Bristol to Exeter, Plymouth to
Poole. I recall hearing my first Sibelius – the Fifth Symphony – with
the BSO conducted by Berglund at University Great Hall, Exeter.
At the same concert Gyorgy Pauk played the Brahms Concerto.
When studying in Bristol the BSO and Berglund were regular
and frequent presences at the Colston Hall.
It
may be long in the tooth now but this first ever commercial
recording of
Kullervo still takes some beating even
if it is on tape stock. Berglund’s second version with the
Helsinki Phil isn’t a patch on it though it was preferred
over the Bournemouth one when EMI were looking for a
Kullervo for
its Matrix series back in the 1990s. Granted, the analogue
hiss is noticeable but the recording remains vintage vibrant
EMI technology even almost forty years on. It was re-mastered
in 2000 for the classic Sibelius
EMI
bargain box. The unanimity and life-imbued weight of
the singing still carries the day although do not forget
the range of other fine versions including the superb Spano
(Telarc), Salonen (Sony) and Segerstam (Ondine) and the two
very different Colin Davis ones (RCA and LSO Live). The Spano
would probably be my first choice for that blend of fine
muscular sound and interpretative values.
The
second disc starts with a suitably gentle and feminine
Oceanides which
rises to a strong climax before fading away. This is more
Mediterranean than Baltic which is quite suitable given Sibelius’s
predilection for Italy. The
Karelia suite outer movements
are buoyant and not too bombastic. Interesting how in the
Alla
Marcia the usually subordinated counter-melody in the
brass gets a prominence I have not heard before in any other
performance. The fine lighter mezzotints of the
Scènes
historiques contrast with the grim
Tapiola yet
the latter lacks the wonderful concentration brought to it
by my Sibelius discovery of the Van Beinum (Eloquence). The
Finlandia starts
rather slackly but soon tautens. The recording lacks the
lignite black impact of Stein/OSR on Decca. The First Serenade
is a gentle effusion – in the spirit of the Beethoven and
Stenhammar romances. Things become slightly more urgent in
a folksy way for the Second which seems more akin to the
wonderful six
Humoresques – try these in the hands
of Aaron Roasnd on Vox - than to the other two character
pieces:
Ab imo pectore and
Laetare anima mea.
Even so these two overlooked pieces sometimes look slantwise
towards the world of the Fourth Symphony. [By the way does
anyone have the CD of Ralph Holmes playing the Sibelius pieces
for violin and orchestra with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra
and Vernon Handley (Koch)?]
A
nice inexpensive selection then and a good way to explore
Sibelius’s lesser known pieces.
Rob Barnett
Raili Kostia
(soprano), Usko Vitanen (baritone) 
