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Monthly Archive: May 2021

Schnéevoigt Conducts Sibelius – Symphony No. 2, Finlandia – Pristine Audio

Schnéevoigt Conducts Sibelius – Symphony No. 2, Finlandia – Pristine Audio

by | May 27, 2021 | Classical CD Reviews, Classical Reissue Reviews

SIBELIUS: Finlandia, Op. 26; Lemminkainen Suite, Op. 22: Lemminkainen in Tuonela; Lemminkainen and the Maidens of Saari; Symphony No. 2 in D Major,Op. 43 -;NBC Symphony Orchestra/ Georg Schnéevoigt – Pristine Audio PASC 631, 78:19 [www.pristineclassical.com] *****: The Thursday evening 28 September 1939 concert of the NBC Symphony at Carnegie Hall featured an appearance by Finnish conductor Georg Lennart Schnéevoigt (1872-1947) at the podium for an all-Sibelius program. Schnéevoigt along with fellow Finn, conductor Robert Kajanus (1856-1933), embodied the Sibelius tradition virtually from its inception under the composer’s aegis. The restoration of this rare occasion marks a special document added to the Pristine catalogue by producer Andrew Rose. Schnéevoigt opens with the most familiar of Sibelius’ scores, his 1899 nationalistic tone-poem Finlandia. He has the NBC brass and timpani in full fettle, militantly ominous and tensely alert. The gradual addition of strings and woodwinds mounts a wonderful, colored intensity, and it comes as grand relief to hear the festive and spiritual relief of the hymn tune, the feeling that “Finland Awakes.” Given both the political climate of its composition, intended for the Finnish Press Pension Celebration of 1899 in order to encourage independence from Russian control, and the events of […]