SIBELIUS: Night Ride and Sunrise; Pan and Echo; Belshazzar’s Feast suite; Two Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 45; Kuolema (Death), Op. 44 & 62 – New Zealand Symphony Orchestra/Pietari Inkinen – Naxos 8.570763, 64:34 ****:
Young conductor Inkinen began his leadership of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra this year. As a Finn, he seems to be the perfect conductor for the music of Sibelius, and in fact has already committed to CD for Naxos all the Sibelius Symphonies and other albums of instrumental music by the composer. This one brings together several shorter instrumental works, opening with the dramatic, programmatic portrayal of a headlong gallop thru the Nordic night, ending with the musical depiction of a Northern sunrise. My most-listened-to disc of Sibelius tone poems has been a 1956 mono LP effort by Sir Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic. Inkinen’s version shows how important improved sonics in stereo can be for music such as this.
Young conductor Inkinen began his leadership of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra this year. As a Finn, he seems to be the perfect conductor for the music of Sibelius, and in fact has already committed to CD for Naxos all the Sibelius Symphonies and other albums of instrumental music by the composer. This one brings together several shorter instrumental works, opening with the dramatic, programmatic portrayal of a headlong gallop thru the Nordic night, ending with the musical depiction of a Northern sunrise. My most-listened-to disc of Sibelius tone poems has been a 1956 mono LP effort by Sir Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic. Inkinen’s version shows how important improved sonics in stereo can be for music such as this.
Pan and Echo is an under-five-minute evocation of the pagan world, with prominent flute, as expected. Sibelius’ incidental music for a best-forgotten play on Belshazzar’s Feast may not equal the excitement of Walton’s dramatic setting with chorus, but its four short sections make an enjoyable little concert suite. His incidental music for the play Death also is arranged into four movements. It opens with one of the composer’s big hits, his Valse Triste. The following Scene With Cranes is of surpassing loveliness, with clarinets playing the sad theme. In fact all four sections display a mood of sadness, in keeping with the title and subject of the drama.
– John Sunier
