Sibelius' Kullervo, an early five-movement tone poem on love, war, death, and heroism, has often seemed awkward, ill formed, and too long on recordings -- one thinks immediately of Paavo Berglund's world-premiere 1970 recording -- and only rarely seemed majestic and magnificent -- one thinks immediately of Jukka-Pekka Saraste's urgent 2002 recording. But Paavo Järvi with mezzo-soprano Randi Stene, baritone Peter Mattei, the National Male Choir of Estonia, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra turn in a performance ...
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Sibelius' Kullervo, an early five-movement tone poem on love, war, death, and heroism, has often seemed awkward, ill formed, and too long on recordings -- one thinks immediately of Paavo Berglund's world-premiere 1970 recording -- and only rarely seemed majestic and magnificent -- one thinks immediately of Jukka-Pekka Saraste's urgent 2002 recording. But Paavo Järvi with mezzo-soprano Randi Stene, baritone Peter Mattei, the National Male Choir of Estonia, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra turn in a performance here that rivals and in some ways surpasses even the best of the competition. Järvi's unrelenting rhythm, ineluctable tempo, and unswerving sense of drama, along with the Swedish players' astounding strength and astonishing stamina and the Estonian chorus' tremendous power and diction deserve a lot of the credit. But a large part, perhaps the largest part, of the performances' success is due to the passionate love duet between Stene and Mattei in the central movement called "Kullervo...
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Seller's Description:
Fair. Ex-Library rental. Disc(s) are professionally cleaned and may contain only light scratches that do not effect functionality. Includes disc(s), case, booklet, and back artwork. Disc(s), case, booklet, and back artwork may contain library/security stickers and ink writing. Case and artwork may show some wear. Case may not be an original jewel case. All disc(s) are authentic.
