Cheap Karajan Edition - Sibelius: Symphonies, Nos. 2 & 5 (Music) (Herbert von Karajan, Jean Sibelius) Price

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Customer Reviews of Karajan Edition - Sibelius: Symphonies, Nos. 2 & 5

In both symphonies Karajan brilliantly manages to join spontaneity with control. The themes appear and are developed in a totally natural sounding flow, yet his grip on the overall structure of the works is quite exemplary and to my mind totally mesmerizing from start to end. The orchestral colour is perhaps slightly less pronounced than in the older mono recordings of the symphonies with the same Philharmonia, but it still reminds us that Karajan's later-day detractors never deigned to listen to anything like this.

The 2nd symphony is particularly successful and is together with Karajan's later account with the Berlin Philharmonic one of the finest ever put to disc. The large-scale build-up toward the last movement is just amazing and is a magnificent lesson in conducting.

Needless to say, Karajan's vision is not the only possible one in Sibelius. Yet, it is by all means a highly convincing one - even more than four decades after date.

Expertly produced by Walter Legge, recorded in beautiful stereo, sound-wise there are no reasons either to deny this CD a full five-star recommendation.

Vintage Philharmonia and Karajan, Very Good Sibelius
While it's somewhat fashionable to beat up on von Karajan, it pays to keep in mind that Sibelius himself openly endorsed the Karajan/Philharmonia mono sessions from the 1950s. Contained on this disc are Karajan's first stereo traversals of the Sibelius 2nd and 5th Symphonies, recorded in the Spring of 1960, his last year with the Philharmonia.

Just in terms of sound, these two performances are a marvel, with the soundstage set at a first-balcony seat distance--standard Walter Legge production values. Plenty of Kingsway Hall ambience, but still ample string body...essential in Sibelius. Analogue tape hiss is well managed, audible but not annoyingly so. The command of the long line, the "architecture" if you will of the piece, is much in evidence. Karajan critics were sometimes right in taking him to task for "homogenizing" or streamlining the surface form to achieve his conductor's arc. Here, though, particularly with this reading of the Second Symphony, the steady pulse and momentum needed to weave Sibelius' melodic germination into a forward-driving symphonic structure are very much at play. All too often in the name of spotlighting the many "moments" of color and texture Sibelius provides, conductors will all but slam the breaks and pause, as if to say "Oh! Look at what he's doing with this wind figure," or "Gee. See how the string counterpoint has changed." Thankfully there's none of that here.

In the Second, the big tunes sing when they need to, but there's no tacked-on melodrama. Yes, this is certainly Sibelius' most Tchaikovskian symphony, but it's disingenuous to claim that Karajan's manner plays this relationship up in some schmaltzy way. Tension is carefully built, with strings leading and winds with brass providing color. The trademark motific "kernels" are allowed to develop in an inevitable way, as Sibelius intended. The symphonic pulse moves inexorably forward, without succombing to musical sight-seeing.

The Fifth Symphony is marginally less successful (hence the four stars as the overall rating), if only when compared with Karajan's masterful take with the Berlin Philharmonic on DG in the mid-60s. While the forward pulse is there, the tunes of the Fifth are not so easily interwoven and projected as they are in the Second. Additionally, some odd moments of intonation problems in the Philharmonia winds are exposed...rather atypical for this orchestra and conductor. Those seeking alternatives for the Sibelius Fifth might look to Bernstein's great success with the NYPO (the ONE Sibelius symphony he got right); likewise, the recent account by Vanska for his BIS cycle gives a good alternate view, with lighter textures and more pointed playing (careful here to choose the disc containing both the original 1915 sketch AND the final 1919 version).

The reading of the Second brings to mind another great Sibelian, Eugene Ormandy, whose masterful coupling of the Second and Seventh recently reissued by Sony at a budget price is a no-brainer for acquiring. For a little more drama, seek out the classic Barbirolli account from the same period, recorded with the RPO originally for Reader's Digest and remastered for CD by Chesky in the mid-80s. Of Berglund's three cycles, the middle with the Helsinki is the one to have. Barbirolli scored again with his own Halle Orchestra for EMI. Both of Colin Davis' accounts (ealier on Philips and later on BMG) are worth hearing, though lately he also has his share of knee-jerk detractors. All are worth a listen.

In short, then, an obvious must-have for Karajan fans. For dedicated Sibelians, though, the reading of the Second contained here is a spot-on example of the historic synergy created when Karajan and the Philharmonia explored Sibelius. Great as their mono effort with the Fourth was, imagine what might have been had a stereo remake been attempted with the same forces on hand here with the Second and Fifth. It was the dark, brooding Fourth that Karajan programmed most often, investigating its rigors several times over in the recording studios. No, it wasn't the ONLY way to play Sibelius, but the results have withstood decades of listening and study.

Stunning conducting, playing and sound!
The first thing to notice here is the absolutely superb sound quality. In fact, I would say that this 1960 stereo engineering was the finest Karajan ever received in all his Sibelius recordings. Balance could not be improved upon: take for example the famous "swan theme" from the finale of the 5th symphony. Here all four elements of the music -- woodwind theme, swinging horn chords, upper string background, and bass line -- are in perfect focus. It is very rare to find engineering which conveys all aspects of the music so well (and Karajan's two later recordings of the 5th are not so fortunate). In particular, the prominence granted throughout to the woodwind is welcome, given the importance Sibelius gives to this section of the orchestra.

Now to Karajan's interpretations. In the 5th, I find the first movement slightly less powerful than Karajan's famous DG interpretation, but over all three movements I prefer this more accurately-played Philharmonia traversal. In particular the 2nd movement gains a rarely-attained coherence at Karajan's flowing speeds, and the final chords of the 3rd movement also gain from being played in time.

The 2nd symphony is also a splendid interpretation. The outer movements are taken broadly, although not so broadly as in Karajan's hard-to-find remake with the Berlin Philharmonic on EMI. If that remake boasts even more ecstatic feeling by the end of the finale, this one gains from a tighter portrayal of the dramatic second movement. In my view, both are essential listening.

The playing of the Philharmonia orchestra is magnificent. At the modest asking price, this CD is essential for any enthusiast of Sibelius.