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Review by Edvin February 5, 2006 (6 of 6 found this review helpful)
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First of all, the mezzo Monica Groop´s name is spelled wrongly on the back and in the booklet. Second, the cover is absolutely hideous.
Colin Davis recorded this once before and that RCA-performance was sluggish, to say the least. This new one is much better with a great deal of fire and energy. But it is an immature piece and the two orchestral movements that starts things off are badly balanced. They contain some really good music, but a revision would have been welcome in order to tighten the form.
Many conductors make their own little changes in this score and I do wish that someone had the guts to remove the triangle from the start of the third movement. But after a minute it is pure extacy. The men from the LSO Chorus are the real heroes here. Passion, fire, sensitivity...they provide it all in abundancy. The two soloists are superb.
Kullervo goes to battle. A bit more fighting spirit please, but very good anyway. As is the last movement. This is even better than Paavo Berglund´s first recording, as a whole that is. Buy this, it is a great Sibelius performance.
The sound. Well, it is quite good. Woodwind are a bit too prominent, you can even hear the clatter of the mechanics from, I presume, a bassoon in the second movement. The bass is a bit boomy, the timpani not clear enough. Also there is not much of a front to back perspective. You know, the usual LSO-Live sound, only a bit better. But the performance is so alive that these drawbacks are minimized.
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