Sibelius - Complete Symphonies Nos.1,2,3,4,5,6,7 (ref.rec.: Paavo Berglund, Helsinki Ph. Orchestra)

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Johan Julius Christian Sibelius (1865-1957) - Complete Symphonies by Paavo Berglund.
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Symphony No.1 in E minor, Op.39
00:00 No.1 l. Andante, ma non troppo - Allegro energico
10:57 No.1 ll. Andante - ma non troppo lento
19:59 No.1 Ill. Scherzo - Allegro
25:01 No.1 IV. Finale: Quasi una fantasia - Andante - Allegro molto

Symphony No.2 in D, Op.43
36:29 No.2 l. Allegretto
45:21 No.2 Il. Tempo andante, ma rubato
58:05 No.2 Ill. Vivacissimo
1:03:55 No.2 IV. Finale - Allegro moderato

Symphony No.3 in C, Op.52
1:16:20 No.3 l. Allegro moderato
1:26:37 No.3 Il. Andantino con moto, quasi allegretto
1:36:25 No.3 Ill. Moderato - Allegro - ma non tanto

Symphony No.4 in A minor, Op.63
1:45:03 No.4 l. Tempo molto moderato, quasi adagio
1:54:47 No.4 ll. Allegro molto vivace
1:59:32 No.4 Ill. Il tempo largo
2:09:31 No.4 IV. Allegro

Symphony No.5 in E flat, Op.82
2:19:32 No.5 I. Tempo molto moderato - Allegro moderato - Presto
2:33:13 No.5 Il. Andante mosso, quasi allegretto
2:41:14 No.5 Ill. Allegro molto - Un pochettino largamente

Symphony No.6 in D minor, Op.104
2:50:02 No.6 l. Allegro molto moderato
2:58:17 No.6 Il. Allegretto moderato
3:03:48 No.6 III. Poco vivace
3:07:44 No.6 IV. Allegro molto

Symphony No. 7 in C, Op.105
3:19:08 No.7 I. Adagio
3:26:23 No.7 II. Un pochettino meno adagio - Vivacissimo - Adagio
3:29:24 No.7 III. Allegro molto moderato
3:36:13 No.7 IV. Vivace - Presto - Adagio

Sibelius by Paavo Berglund: Kullervo Symphony Op.7 (with Chorus):    • Sibelius by Paavo Berglund - Kullervo...  

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
Conducor: Paavo Berglund
Recorded in
Painting: Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865-1931) The Shepherd from Paanajärvi (1892).
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During a career spanning fifty years, Paavo Berglund (1929-2012), one of the very few left-handed conductors to have refused the diktat that all conductors must lead with the baton in their right hand, devoted himself tirelessly to popularising the greatest composer of his native land, Jean Sibelius. And although he excelled in many other repertoires, it was around the Finn that he ensured his posterity, with no less than three complete symphonies.

The second, which interests us today, is in a way the point of balance, the happy medium between the raspy energy of the early works and the late tendency towards abstraction. Above all, it marks a return to the roots with the most atavistic of Siberian phalanges, the Helsinki Philharmonic founded by Robert Kajanus, a close friend of the composer who recorded - albeit in England with two British orchestras - some of the first versions of some of his symphonies in the early 1930s.

Half a century later (1984-1987), Berglund approaches his middle section with a concern for authenticity aimed at purifying the sonorities, considerably thinning the strings, which never take precedence over the much less individualised solo woodwinds than in Bournemouth, and the brass, which is refined but has a constant discreet presence. No more mass effects, titanic crescendi and telluric climaxes, in favour of a fine and luminous Scandinavian line. His mineral sounds are the very essence of Sibelius.

Johan Sibelius PLAYLIST (reference recordings):    • Sibelius - Symphonies No.1,2,3,4,5,6,...