Search - Jean Sibelius, Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra :: Sibelius: Finlandia; Valse Triste; Tapiola; Der Schwan von Tuonela; The Swan of Tuonela

Stylish and powerful

Stephen Chakwin | Norwalk, CT USA | 09/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Leave the hooey of the previous review aside. He's obviously got a point to make that has nothing to do with music and is wrong extra-musically as well. If it really matters what Karajan's politics were, read Osborne's excellent biography and learn that Karajan had ongoing difficulties with the Nazis culminating in his being frozen out of most work when he married a woman who was half Jewish.

All of that aside, these are magnificent readings. Karajan - as the composer himself recognized - has the idiom of this music down perfectly and finds perfect balance between mysticism and cool objectivity in The Swan of Tuonela, for example. If you want this selection of pieces, you won't find a better played or more sympathetically interpreted recording than this one."

Gloriously Opulent Sibelius

Scriabinmahler | UK | 03/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
The damning comment below is totally unjust and unreliable as the reviewer's view is completely clouded and distorted by his own personal dislike of Karajan as a person, that has nothing to do with either the conductor as musician nor content of this CD (what does Karajan's career strategy with Nazis, true or not, have to do with the recording!)



Karajan's reading of Finlandia is not a bombastic statement of Finnish nationalism, yet has weight and dignity with much emphasis on bass and the gloriously opulent sound from the orchestra.



The other three works are masterfully shaped and vividly captured with imagination. A fine addition to Karajan's Sibelius recordings."

Powerful but stingy

Michael C. Collins | USA | 11/16/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"These performances have the power and polish we expect from Von K and the Berliners.

My only gripe is that DGG is so stingy. Only 42 minutes of Music. Throw in the En Saga at about 9 minutes, or the Karelia Suite. It can be done!"