Bob Draper wrote:

>In my view Askenazy's is the best Sibelius complete set (Decca).Though I
>haven't heard Rattle.  At mid price (in UK) it's certainly worth getting.

and in another thread, Don Satz wrote:

>I have no idea of the Davis personality, but I think history will see
>him as one of the "greats".  His Berlioz, Mozart, Haydn, and Sibelius
>recordings are among the best, ...

There's no accounting for taste, especially mine, but FWIW:

I've not heard the recorded Sibelius cycles by Ashkenazy or Davis.  I've
avoided them, as performances they've conducted which I've heard on the
radio have put me off.  Ashkenazy, and for that matter Vanska, strike me
as eccentric, with peculiar changes of tempo which distract from the flow
of the music.  Davis is at the other extreme, his performances being very
bland.

In between, and much better IMO, there are Berglund, Rattle, Gibson and
Saraste (although Saraste's live audiences don't seem impressed, judging by
the noise they make).  I recall the Collins set, which I heard on LP in my
youth, as being very good indeed, but that was decades ago and my memory
isn't all that reliable.

Peter Varley
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