Romantic Dynamics

Jean Sibelius - Kullervo
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra / Leif Segerstam / Isokoski / Hakala
SACD ISO: 3,78 GB (Stereo + MCH DSD) | FLAC @ 24bit/88.2kHz: 1,30 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Rec. Info
Label/Cat#: Ondine # ODE 1122-5 | Country/Year: Finland 2008
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

…There is no doubt in my mind that this Kullervo from Segerstam and his team is exceptionally fine and in the first rank of the ever-growing list of recordings. Spano's deeply thought and excellently performed account would also merit a first ranking. But I find Segerstam to have produced the most psychologically realistic Kullervo performance, thanks to the depth of characterisation uncovered by Hakala and Isokoski in the seemingly unpromising and dificult texts of the Kalevala verses. Segerstam comes close to Berglund's powerful first recording from 1970, which allowed many of us to encounter this unforgettable work. The state-of-the art fidelity of Ondine's engineering is a great advantage in itself. While quintessentially Finnish, Ondine's production nevertheless fulfils Sibelius' intent to make this music universal in appeal. Warmly recommended.

Pianist Johanna Summer draws a wide spectrum across seven pieces from Robert Schumann's "Album for the Youth" and "Kinderszenen". With classical playing culture and the freedom of jazz.

Ross Edwards naturally earns an important place in the Australian Composer Series. The piece that gives this disc its ostensible title, White Ghost Dancing, also alerts one to the wide range of his influences and musical enthusiasms. He ranges widely. Certainly there’s an acknowledged indebtedness to Aboriginal music but the driving rhythms surely owe their own special debt to Stravinsky – and in this particular case to the Rite of Spring. The fiery syncopation and the earth tones of Edwards’s winds also bring their own tangy sensibility and colour. Veni Creator Spiritus is an impressive …..

Jonathan Woolf @ musicweb-international.com

This 1972 studio recording is the ultimate Tales Of Hoffman. The recording was originally an LP on the ABC label in the Westminster Legacy issues, but digitally remastered and edited for cd by Deutsche Grammophon. Deutsche Grammophone cd labels are famous for remastering legendary and classic recordings of classical music and opera and they have outdone themselves again with this one. It features virtuoso singers at the top of their game and the orchestra is directed under the baton of the seasoned conductor Julius Rudel.

Stephan Genz's light, warm and cultured baritone is especially fine in reflecting the ghost voices and moonlight serenades of Mahler's folk-inspired anthology. Yet more attack is surely needed for the prisoner in the tower and the what should be the increasingly desperate pleas of the starving child is 'Das irdische Leben'.