This 2007 release of Paavo Berglund leading the Bournemouth Symphony in selected tone poems and incidental music by Jean Sibelius is a straight reissue of the same title from 1997. Berglund is a masterful Sibelius conductor, and these are some of the most persuasive performances on record. His approach emphasizes balance and accuracy; he does not make Sibelius bigger, stronger, or stranger than he is. After years spent under the expert leadership of Constantin Silvestri, the Bournemouth had grown into a first-rank ...
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This 2007 release of Paavo Berglund leading the Bournemouth Symphony in selected tone poems and incidental music by Jean Sibelius is a straight reissue of the same title from 1997. Berglund is a masterful Sibelius conductor, and these are some of the most persuasive performances on record. His approach emphasizes balance and accuracy; he does not make Sibelius bigger, stronger, or stranger than he is. After years spent under the expert leadership of Constantin Silvestri, the Bournemouth had grown into a first-rank provincial orchestra, and the playing here is colorful, subtle, and inexorable in its intensity. Some could reasonably complain about certain odd omissions -- why only two movements of the four-movement Lemminkäinen Suite? Why the spooky Bard and not the shimmering Oceanides? Why the ephemeral Spring Song and not the enigmatic Tapiola? -- but the inclusion of excerpts from four different sets of incidental music will please those looking for the Finnish composer's less often played works....
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