Colin Davis has an impressive track record conducting Sibelius. His recordings of the complete symphonies with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the 70s were a benchmark; two decades later he revisited the scores with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Now the LSO and Davis are dipping into Sibelius again,disc by disc, in the orchestra's new LSO Live series.
Alas, this 2006 account of the Second Symphony is superfluous. Throughout, one has the feeling of too much caution and consideration. The weight of its scherzo detracts from the slash and crackle it can have; the famous Finale, despite feral, flagrant trumpeting, tips into the ponderous.
Pohjola's Daughter is more successful. Stephen Johnson's provocative sleeve notes ask whether this is a spectacular tone poem or solid one-movement symphony; a commentary on strained heroism or thrill-a-bar showcase. Under Davis, it is both. There is symphonic tenacity here yet the roar of all-encircling brass can be terrifying on top-notch playback.
The orchestra plays magnificently, the occasional burr in the violins reminding one of the human fallibility of live recording, perhaps a minor virtue in our age of clinical perfection.
Next week Piers Lane plays Chopin in Auckland. The Australian pianist visits Scandinavia as well on his latest album, Volume 42 in Hyperion's Romantic Piano Concerto series.
This is first-class fun under livewire Andrew Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra playing as if Norwegian state honour was at stake.
Christian Sinding's 1890 Concerto is a far cry from the fluttering of his notorious Rustle of Spring. Piano and orchestra luxuriate in its juicy late romantic splendour without a smirk, storming their way from climax to climax through what sound like the halls of Valhalla. Aficionados will find it shudderingly beautiful; cynics will deem it shatteringly banal.
A piano concerto by Eyvind Alnaes (1872-1932) is another affair altogether. It too flexes Wagnerian muscles in its first movement, but the Lento has a Mahlerian angst and leanness. Best of the three movements is the Finale which, after a tongue-in-cheek timpani roll straight out of Grieg, waltzes Viennese-style from fiord to fiord.
* Sibelius, Symphony no 2 (LSO Live LSOO105, through Ode Records)
Alnaes & Sinding, Piano Concertos (Hyperion CDA 67555, through Ode Records)
