Search - Jean Sibelius, Simon Rattle, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra :: Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 7; Scene with Cranes; Night Ride and Sunrise

CBSO version of the 5th and a weak 7th

James Rockhill | Michigan, USA | 12/03/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Nice compilation of Sibelius orchestral works, all well-played in clear sound.



Some sources have listed this recording of the 5th Symphony as Rattle's earlier performance with the Philharmonia, possibly because its discmate, "Night Ride and Sunrise", has been included. As good as the CBSO recording is, with plenty of rhythmic and woodwind detail clarifying Sibelius' motivic manipulations at every turn, however, it almost sounds cold and calculated next to the more passionate, almost intuitive reading Rattle gave the music with the Philharmonia less than a decade earlier.



That recording and his crystal-clear, almost rapturous 6th (paired with a 4th, which, though having nothing of the circus about it, manages to make the most of that work's rather rarefied, astringent beauties without in any way slighting its structural integrity) are among my favorite Sibelius recordings.



The tone poems are nicely done, but the 7th Symphony merely sounds episodic and poorly balanced, with the brass overpowering the strings at several junctures, to the point of blurring some of the bridge-passages that hold the work together. It may be the engineering, but the work ends up sounding shapeless.



If only Rattle had recorded "Pohjola's Daughter"and "Tapiola" - from the evidence of these recordings, I suspect those performances would have been something special."