Berglund

What a great set this is: thirteen discs chock full of masterful performances, many of which have already been praised here. EMI has not included any of Berglund’s Sibelius symphonies (except the Helsinki Kullervo) since they have been issued elsewhere, nor are there any concertos, which is a pity. But all of his Shostakovich symphonies for EMI (Nos. 5-7, 10, and 11) have finally been gathered together, including these benchmark performances of Nos. 6 and 11.

Like Paavo Berglund’s Sibelius symphony recordings, also with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, these Brahms performances inject a certain novelty that will be appreciated especially by the listener who has wearied of them due to excessive repetition. While these are not radically desiccated renditions in the manner of Chailly or Harnoncourt, the COE’s smaller-scaled string body does require a bit of time at first for your ear to adjust to the thinner timbres. But the reward is a harvest of inner detail, much of it barely audible in full-size orchestral performances (but well captured by Ondine’s vivid recordings), which continually surprises and delights.

Finnish conductor Paavo Berglund, who passed away in January 2012, was one of the last remaining conductors with a direct personal connection to Sibelius. With the Second and Seventh Symphonies already released on the LPO Label, Berglund’s Sibelius legacy is further cemented in these live concert recordings with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, in which he vividly captures the natural flight of the Fifth Symphony and the freefall journey of the Sixth.