Vanska and the Minnesotans finally complete their Sibelius cycle

Posted by Chris from Lafayette (A) on August 14, 2016 at 09:10:46

This final installment contains Symphonies nos. 3, 6 and 7 - the last two surely a couple of the greatest symphonies ever composed! As you may remember, this is a cycle which was interrupted by the insane management policies in Minnesota (such as attempting to reduce the pay of the players by one third - imagine if your company tried to do that to you!) which forced a strike and led to a corrosive 15-month lockout of the musicians.

As heard on this glorious new recording (24/96 multi-channel download from eClassical), the orchestra sounds none the worse for wear, and in many respects, this final volume is the best yet in the cycle. Certainly the engineering, for whatever reason, seems more open and spacious than in the earlier albums. (I have all of them except for No. 2 - despite its dominant popularity among the seven, it's just not a favorite of mine.) One really striking aspect of the performances is the huge dynamic range which Vanska employs (and which the engineers capture breathtakingly!) - very gratifying indeed!

Over on Classics Today, Dave seems to have been in a sour mood when he auditioned this new recording, complaining that the woodwinds lack presence. This is certainly not true the way I heard it - in fact, that's one of the extraordinary things about this recording: that the different sections of the orchestra can all be heard so clearly and can come to the fore as needed so naturally and, seemingly, almost effortlessly. Dave also complains about some of the tempos, such as the second movement of the Third (too slow), but the instances he cites didn't bother me at all. Only the second movement of the Sixth seemed (possibly!) a bit slow (especially in the part, about three-quarters of the way through, which I've always thought suggested the scurrying of little forest animals - they don't really scurry in this performance, but the same was true in Vanska's earlier recording with the Lahti Symphony.) OTOH, the ensemble playing and the clear articulation are outstanding!

Meanwhile, over on Music Web International last week, Brian Wilson, while generally delighted with this new release, complains that the dynamic range is TOO wide. For the life of me, I CANNOT understand a criticism like this! This was the way the musicians played the music, and you want the engineers to come in and compress the natural dynamic range??? WTF??? The huge dynamic range is one of the glories of this release, and I salute the BIS engineering team for being able to capture such realism! (I've put a link to the MWI review at the bottom of this post - you'll find a link to another of their reviews of this album there too.)

I very much recommend an audition of these performances - they're very worthwhile and I suspect you'll be impressed with both performances and engineering.

http://musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Aug/Sibelius (Open in New Window)

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Topic - Vanska and the Minnesotans finally complete their Sibelius cycle - Chris from Lafayette 09:10:46 08/14/16 (21)

The dynamic range argument will go on and on.... - srl1 18:23:51 08/15/16 (1)

RE: The dynamic range argument will go on and on.... - oldmkvi 10:13:07 08/16/16 (0)

Really a milestone - TGR 09:22:02 08/15/16 (5)

RE: "I think the SFS actually plays better for him than for MTT!" - Ivan303 12:25:03 08/15/16 (4)

Agreed, actually - TGR 13:14:26 08/15/16 (3)

RE: " Also they play better for Bychkov" - Ivan303 13:55:54 08/15/16 (2)

I have seen him twice - TGR 16:30:21 08/15/16 (1)

I saw him in Oakland with the Vienna Phil... - Ivan303 16:39:50 08/15/16 (0)

RE: Vanska and the Minnesotans finally complete their Sibelius cycle - learsfool 20:53:24 08/14/16 (4)

Thanks for the correction - that means the Minnesota Orchestra board/administration was even more insane! [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 22:42:00 08/14/16 (3)

More like very hard-nosed bargaining. - rbolaw 07:49:03 08/15/16 (2)

Sure, I understand that - Chris from Lafayette 09:13:07 08/15/16 (1)

Sometimes the board simply closes the business. - rbolaw 10:00:44 08/15/16 (0)

RE: Sure didn't take Sibelius that long! nt - kitch29 19:26:06 08/14/16 (0)

"For the life of me, I CANNOT understand a criticism like this!" - Doktor Brahms 10:27:09 08/14/16 (6)

DB - I do understand where you're coming from - Chris from Lafayette 12:18:40 08/14/16 (4)

RE: DB - I do understand where you're coming from - pbarach 15:56:50 08/15/16 (2)

RE: DB - I do understand where you're coming from - ahendler 16:48:07 08/15/16 (0)

Interesting - Chris from Lafayette 16:36:49 08/15/16 (0)

RE: DB - I do understand where you're coming from - Doktor Brahms 13:26:39 08/14/16 (0)

RE: "For the life of me, I CANNOT understand a criticism like this!" - rjan 11:36:50 08/14/16 (0)

Vanska and the Minnesotans finally complete their Sibelius cycle

Post a Message!