Sibelius Symphony 7

Since the beginning of his recording career, Colin Davis has been a champion of the music of Jean Sibelius, and his highly regarded cycle of the seven symphonies has been a mainstay of many LP and CD collections over the years. Recorded between 1975 and 1979 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and grouped here with the Violin Concerto and various famous tone poems, such as Finlandia, The Swan of Tuonela, and Tapiola, Davis' set is still a viable contender against other packages on the market, and listeners who want lucid interpretations will be hard pressed to find any that improve on these performances.

The output of the Finnish national composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) comprises one of the most fascinating treasure houses of classical music. It includes world favourites such as Valse triste and Finlandia, as well as the most recorded violin concerto of the 20th century. It includes a symphonic cycle that has become one of the most esteemed and popular cycles since Beethoven.

Recorded in the mid-1970s with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, this classic cycle of symphonies and tone poems firmly established Sir Colin Davis's reputation as one the greatest Sibelius interpreters. Nearly forty years on and the cycle remains as grand and dynamic as ever.

This is one of the mere handful of great recordings of the Sibelius violin concerto. Not that there aren't many contestants in the field; in fact, it seems that almost every modern violin virtuoso wants to record the Sibelius, and perhaps this isn't surprising, since it's one of the Big Five (along with the Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and Tchaikovsky) major violin concertos.

Jean Sibelius - Symphonies Nos. 3 & 7
London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Colin Davis
PS3 SACD ISO: 2,81 GB (2.0/5.1) | EAC Rip, FLAC LOG & CUE: 211 MB (2.0) | 24B/88,2kHz FLAC (2.0): 860 MB | Lossless Artwork: 156 MB | Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: LSO Live LSO0051 | Country/Year: UK 2004 | Genre: Classical, Romantic | Hoster: Filepost/Filefactory

…But even compared with the LSO's fervent performances of the Sibelius symphonies with Davis in the '90s cannot compare with the fire of these 2003 recordings of the Third and Seventh. With the LSO's passionate virtuosity behind him, Davis creates nuanced but powerful performances, performances that are detailed yet sweeping, lyric yet epic, but, above all, loving. Davis and the LSO's Third is light but shot with shadows, poised but relentless, mysterious but triumphant. The Seventh is the sun cresting the snow-capped mountains, the wind rushing down from the peaks, their song soaring in the high, sharp air. Even though Davis does hum, anyone who loves Sibelius will have to hear these performances.

Jean Sibelius - Symphonies Nos. 3 & 7
London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Colin Davis
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 222 MB | Full Artwork: 164 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: LSO Live # LSO0051 | Country/Year: UK 2004
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

As it turns out, Colin Davis hums. He also moans, groans, and sometimes even grunts. In this enormous but intimate super audio CD, the listener can hear Davis' vocal obbligato as he uses any means necessary to convey his vision to the musicians. (…) Even though Davis does hum, anyone who loves Sibelius will have to hear these performances.

Finland's Jean Sibelius is perhaps the most important composer associated with nationalism in music and one of the most influential in the development of the symphony and symphonic poem. Sibelius was born in southern Finland, the second of three children. His physician father left the family bankrupt, owing to his financial extravagance, a trait that, along with heavy drinking, he would pass on to Jean. Jean showed talent on the violin and at age nine composed his first work for it, Rain Drops. In 1885 Sibelius entered the University of Helsinki to study law, but after only a year found himself drawn back to music. He took up composition studies with Martin Wegelius and violin with Mitrofan Wasiliev, then Hermann Csillag. During this time …..

From Allmusic