Telarc is releasing a recording of a Tubin symphony later this month that
entices me:

Artist: Paavo Jarvi/Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Recording: Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D Major /
Tubin: Symphony No. 5 in B Minor
Release Date: 8/27/02
Release# CD-80585
Compact Disc Price: $15.99 $14.99 sale!

   http://www.telarc.com/gscripts/title.asp?gsku=0585

Here's a blurb about it by Mark Lehman from the current issue of "The
Absolute Sound":

   This is an appropriate pairing, for the Estonian Eduard Tubin is
   very much in the grand symphonic tradition of Sibelius, Nielsen,
   and Shostakovich.  His Fifth Symphony, written in 1946, is a
   nationalist-Romantic statement of heroic defiance and, ultimately,
   affirmation.  The martial rhythmns that pervade the work, heard
   immediately in the insistent string theme that begins the symphony,
   eventuate in thunderous timpani cannonades that end both the first
   and the concluding third movement.  War, and the fierce struggle of
   tiny independent nations for self-determination- Tubin fled Estonia
   one day before Soviet tanks rolled into its capital, Tallinn- is this
   symphony's subtext.  Yet verdancy and sweetness, and a pantheistic
   awe at the beauty of the natural world, infuse the broad melodic
   arches of its central andante.  (These emotions are explored more
   fully in Tubin's radiantly beautiful Fourth Symphony, written a few
   years earlier.)

   Like all great composers, Tubin has a distinctive and immediately
   identifiable "sound".  He's a master at weaving complex yet transparent
   orchestral texures.  Paavo Jarvi and his Cincinnatians are expecially
   good in articulating Tubin's nuances.  There's a bracing, tensile
   springiness in the strings, for instance, lacking in the earlier BIS
   recording (with Neeme Jarvi leading the not-as-impressive Bamburg
   Symphony).  In addition, Cincinnati's brass is superlative- burnished,
   majestic, piercingly clear.

   That Jarvi values spontaneity and excitement- and isn't afraid to
   take risks- is apparent in htis pacing and phrasing of Sibelius'
   Second, where, or course, the recorded competition, including classic
   versions by Marbirolli, Szell, and Ormandy, is well nigh overwhelming.
   Even so, it's undeniable that Jarvi has given us his own version of
   this Finnish masterpiece.  And how those Cincinnati musicians play!
   This is quite simply a world-class orchestra.

   Comments on Telarc's sonics are provisional; at press time only a
   pre-production copy of the disc was available, and some adjustments
   were pending.  I can confirm the high-impact, immediate, rather
   up-close perspective (with the "burr" still on the brass), and an
   accurate rendition of Cincinnati's large but not expecially "live"
   Music Hall.  The music sounds glorious on my system- as Sibelius and
   Tubin, truly glorious composers, should sound.

Larry