Sibelius Symphony 7

With this 2014 Chandos box set of the symphonies of Jean Sibelius, John Storgårds joins the relatively small company of modern conductors who have recorded the full cycle, and his set as a whole is persuasive, despite some unusual choices. As a Finnish conductor with a strong incentive to interpret these works faithfully, Storgårds is quite true to Sibelius' intentions, even though the sound of the BBC Philharmonic is not as lush or as homogenous as might be expected.

The Chief Conductor of Oslo Philharmonic and Music Director of Orchestre de Paris, Klaus Mäkelä announces his debut album; the complete Sibelius symphonies plus the fragments of the unfinished 8th and his last symphonic poem Tapiola. The orchestra has been performing the music of Jean Sibelius for over 100 years, with the composer himself conducting three concerts of his music in 1921. Together they form the Scandinivian Trio.

Some critics claim that Karajan's 1965 recording of Sibelius' Symphony No. 5 with the Berlin Philharmonic is the greatest performance of that symphony ever recorded. Some claim that his 1967 recording of the Sixth is the greatest performance of that symphony ever recorded. And a few critics even assert that his 1965 Fourth is, if not the greatest ever recorded, at least the most beautiful ever recorded. Beautiful? Yes, certainly; all of Karajan's mid-'60s recordings of Sibelius, like all of his mid-'60s recordings of everything, were opulently, sumptuously, voluptuously beautiful.

The final volume of the complete Sibelius Symphonies from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Owain Arwel Hughes contains the ever popular 5th coupled with the beautiful less well known 6th, and the ground breaking single movement 7th, the composer's final word on the symphony. His 8th, apparently completed, was consigned to the fire by Sibelius. The first volume in this cycle was made a Gramophone Editors Choice and was praised for the performances, interpretation and the recorded sound.

Askenazy and the Philharmonia produced a very good 6th Symphony in their previous cycle for Decca, and not a great deal has changed, except that in the Stockholm performance the tempi are all notably faster, giving the lie to the adage that conductors slow music down as they age. This lovely symphony, often neglected in concert programmes, is regarded as a masterpiece by many musicologists. In following the exultant 5th, it is drained of heroism, and it also reserves epic glory for the 7th Symphony. Yet it has fragile beauties of its own.

Perhaps no other conductor has done more for Sibelius or has championed him more consistently on record than Herbert von Karajan. Celebrating Karajan’s great affinity to Sibelius, we present the reissue of his complete recordings of the composer’s works on the Yellow Label, across 5 CDs + 1 Blu-ray. The analogue recordings are newly remastered and presented on Blu-ray Audio disc in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Atmos.

Completing the cycle of the seven symphonies of the great Finnish composer Jean Sibelius is this remastered 2 CD recording from EMI of the performances by Paavo Berglund and the Helsinski Philharmonic Orchestra. Not only are the symphonies 5,6, and 7 given masterful performances, but the recording includes the rather rarely played 'The Oceanides' tone poem as well as the ever popular 'Finlandia' and 'Tapiola'. Again Berglund provides spacious sound and breathtaking climaxes in these works and the quality of sound from the Helsinki Philharmonic is solid.

Reference Recordings proudly presents a unique album of one movement symphonies composed by Barber, Sibelius and Scriabin, in an outstanding interpretation from Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony. This album, the ninth in our series with the orchestra, was produced by David Frost, seven-time winner of the Classical Producer of the Year GRAMMY® award. It was recorded by RR’s own engineering team of GRAMMY®-winning engineer and Technical Director Keith O. Johnson, and multi-GRAMMY® nominated engineer Sean Martin. Music Director Michael Stern is in his second decade with the Kansas City Symphony, hailed for its remarkable artistic ascent, original programming, organizational development and stability, as well as the extraordinary growth of its varied audiences since his tenure began. The Kansas City Symphony has a vision to transform hearts, minds and its community through the power of symphonic music.