For dedicated Sibelius aficionados, Vol. 5 in BIS' complete Sibelius will be mandatory listening. These six discs include all the Finnish master's music for the theater in exemplary performances by Osmo Vänskä with the Lahti Symphony on four and a half discs and less than exemplary but still more than acceptable performances by Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra on two and a half discs. Though certainly not at the same level as his symphonies and his best tone poems, Sibelius' theater music is still highly ...
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For dedicated Sibelius aficionados, Vol. 5 in BIS' complete Sibelius will be mandatory listening. These six discs include all the Finnish master's music for the theater in exemplary performances by Osmo Vänskä with the Lahti Symphony on four and a half discs and less than exemplary but still more than acceptable performances by Neeme Järvi and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra on two and a half discs. Though certainly not at the same level as his symphonies and his best tone poems, Sibelius' theater music is still highly characterful, tremendously evocative, and wholly suited to its milieu. Vänskä and the Lahti's performances are leaner and more colorful, with greater dramatic tension, while Järvi and the Gothenburg's are rounder and smoother, with more overt emotionality. For less dedicated Sibelius fans, the idea of having the complete incidental music; the suites from The Tempest, King Christian II, and Belshazzar's Feast; plus the music from all three different productions of Kuolema may seem too...
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