| An Also-Ran (review from amazon.com) |
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In spite of this release being in the hybrid SACD format -- not the first, though as Colin Davis's latest is, too -- this release is rather dull when compared with other earlier recordings. There has been a spate of recordings in the past few years and not really a bad one among them. I can remember when there was only one available recording -- Paavo Berglund with the Bournemouth SO, a fine account from which many of us learned to the work. 'Kullervo' was till then considered by many to be a weak sister in the Sibelius canon. But recently there has been a real reinvigoration of interest in this early work -- some consider it to be Sibelius's real 'First Symphony', coming as it does before the so-numbered symphony in the glorious set of seven that we're all familiar with. In the right hands it is an inspiriting work. Here it seems merely plodding and dutiful much of the time. When one listens to the recent Spano/Atlanta recording or the newish C. Davis one, not to speak of the earlier Segerstam or those by Osmo Vänskä or Jukka Pekka Saraste, this one goes back on the shelf, probably to stay. The playing is cautious, the soloists are unsatisfactory -- I had real trouble with the cutting edge of the soprano's voice and the unsteadiness of the baritone's -- and the tempi are trudging much of the time. Sound is also a little muddy.
I'd strongly advise one to consider any of the others mentioned and give this one a miss.
Scott Morrison
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