Remastered from commercial 4-track RCA tapes, an assemblage of Sibelius offerings proves aurally delectable, especially for those who cultivate virtuoso ensemble in the form of the London Symphony Orchestra. While Alexander Gibson (1926-1995) leads in a literalist tradition that does not always unbutton the harmonic and rhythmic ferocity we have in Sibelius from Koussevitzky and Celibidache, he elicits fine-tuned expression from winds, horns, and strings. The Fifth can be played as a slowly rising arch-form, whose first movement breaks loose only in its final pages. The second movement, in fact, might be too careful, too cautious for some tastes. But for beauty and sonic detail, the interplay of winds, strings, and pedaled horns conveys a lilting persuasiveness. The nervous tremolandi of the Scherzo reawaken our sensibilities, the tympani just underneath the flutterings. The horns then nobly provide the six-note pattern ostinato whose motif carries us upward and outward into the ether. Gorgeous string layering and woodwind punctuations as we move toward the grand peroration. A lyrical rather than an overtly dramatic rendering of the score, but the music plays as a hymn to Sibelius’ gift for color and shimmering textures.
I upped the volume control for the Karelia Suite, hoping to equal from Gibson what Robert Kajanus squeezed from his orchestra back in 1930. The trumpets do come galloping forth from Gibson, the cymbals and strings in tow, then the accelerando and climactic chords, the dissipation a kind of detumescence into a blue haze. The middle movement Pastoral is the kind of music in which Gibson’s sunny disposition excels. Few of the dark undercurrents that we hear from Rosbaud in this music. The March, an old Beecham standard, keeps a jaunty pace, a light touch, and good-natured energy, the French horn trumpet riffs expertly maneuvered.
From the opening string pedal, cello solo, and English horn plaint, the seductive Swan of Tuonela offers a softer, more sensuous view of death than we witness–excepting the middle of his Isle of the Dead–from Rachmaninov, here realized by Morton Gould (1913-1996) and his “orchestra,” mostly New York Philharmonic members. Gould received most of his conducting tutelage from Fritz Reiner, just without the acerbic sarcasm. Lovely Sibelius, this disc. I would prefer HDTT provided original recording dates, banded timings, and total duration of the disc. [As usual, the DVD-R version provides greater frequency extension and more transparency. The chestnut Swan of Tuonela has never sounded so painfully glorious – that English horn player should have a credit too…Ed.]
— Gary Lemco
