Deryk Barker <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>Haven't heard Leaper's Sibelius, although can it be coincidence that Naxos
>have started another Sibelius cycle?

There don't need to be any coincidence.  Many labels have different
cycles.  But I would be interested to know if someone knows how far NAXOS
has come in recording Sibelius with this Petri Sakari (another Finn who has
conducted Sibelius in school) and the Icelandic SO? Symphonies 1 & 3 were
very good IMO, and the 2 not bad either.  So what is next? (I know what is
released so far)

>AL's Nielsen was OK, but nothing special.

Uneven. The 2nd mushy but powerful, the 3rd excellent, but the first
downright bad etc.

Who is the uncredited soprano in the third?

Donald Scarinci ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>Naxos puts out a DDD Sibelius 7th.  It is by LEAPER/SLOVAK PHIL ORCH.  The
>price is a cool $5.00.  Is the performance and sound quality there or is
>there a better Sibelius 7th out there?

That depends what you want.  There is a set, just to mention it, of all
Sibelius symphonies, including Kullervo, by the Finnish Radio Symphony
Orchestra by Jukka-Pekka Saraste, recorded live in S:t Petersburg 05.1993,
which is a very, on the limit to lack of imagination, traditional
recording.  It has some finer parts, but all in all it is a routine job
to say so.  Still this set is a safe purchase if you want your Sibelius
"lagom".  Saraste is a Finn who has learned conducting through conducting
these works, so he knows what he is doing, completely without doing
anything extraordinary.  I consider Kullervo the weak part of the set.
Imagine now that you want someone who really screw things up, then go for
that Mikko Frank (b.1979) conducting the Stockholm Philarmonics.  I have
never heard something alike his Sibelius 7.  I could never think Sibelius
could be done that way!

Mats Norrman
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