#Sibelius 5 how to#

And this time he got it right: his reading is dramatic without the quirks or exaggerations that plague his versions of most of the other symphonies.

Bernstein is bound to be a controversial choice, but the Fifth is a symphony he surely learned at the knee of his mentor Koussevitzky (see below). This is Sibelius’s symphony in the “Eroica” key of E♭ the Lemminkäinen Suite is in the same key. Quote DESERT ISLAND VERSION: Bernstein (1961).

#Sibelius 5 how to#

But, does anyone know this version or have any ideas on how to acquire it affordably? The radio station I heard it on has links on line to purchase it, but it's a dead end. I've heard the piece so many times I need something different to snap me out of any lethargy about it I may be starting to accumulate. That's true, but those points were exactly all the ones I don't mind hearing underlined. The Grammophone's reviewer didn't like it, thought musical points were exxageratedly underlined. It's out of print now and I can't find it available from on line sources except ones that want to charge for one CD the equivalent of what six CDs would normally cost. The other day in my car I heard a version on the radio that absolutely bowled me over, Paavo Berglund's third recording, I think, of the piece with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on the Finlandia label made in the late 1990s. I know this is a common condition people have when a great piece can never meet expections completely and there is alway something more to say. I've got a number of recordings of it: Karajan DG, Colin Davis Boston cycle, the first Rattle, the Vanska, the Segerstam and have heard many more.įor me all of them have their positives but every single one of them falls just short.

The Sibelius 5th Symphony has been one of my absolute favorite pieces of music for years and it never fails to instill pure joy.