Tír Na HiFi

Karajan made some early 1950´s Sibelius recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra, that Sibelius himself heard and approved (Sibelius died in 1957). These recordings, as some others with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the RCA label made Sibelius the most famous and revered living composer since Richard Strauss died in 1949. Karajan continued to champion his music through his career.

I believe that I have read somewhere that Sibelius in fact only approved of two conductors whom he felt really did his work true justice; one of them as you say Pepe was von Karajan (whom I have always greatly admired in Sibelius) and the other was Kajanus who did not record all of the symphonies (but I may be wrong on that fact).

Many still think Robert Kajanus the finest Sibelius conductor ever, but he died in 1933 and his recordings are very primitive.
With the advent of the LP in 1950 large scale symphonic works finally received worthy recordings, and fortunately for Sibelius, he lived long enough to witness how viral his popularity went in the new medium.

fergus wrote:I believe that I have read somewhere that Sibelius in fact only approved of two conductors whom he felt really did his work true justice; one of them as you say Pepe was von Karajan (whom I have always greatly admired in Sibelius) and the other was Kajanus who did not record all of the symphonies (but I may be wrong on that fact).

I am familiar with von Karajan's Sibelius recordings on EMI and I do not like them, perhaps I am missing something? I would much prefer Bernstein, Vänskä, (the underrated) Sanderling, Blomstedt and Maazel in these works.

Jose Echenique wrote:Many still think Robert Kajanus the finest Sibelius conductor ever, but he died in 1933 and his recordings are very primitive.
With the advent of the LP in 1950 large scale symphonic works finally received worthy recordings, and fortunately for Sibelius, he lived long enough to witness how viral his popularity went in the new medium.

I do have a CD set of Kajanus cunducting Sibelius 1, 2, 3, 5 and other works Pepe which is of very passable quality and which is an interesting historical record.

Seán wrote: I am familiar with von Karajan's Sibelius recordings on EMI and I do not like them, perhaps I am missing something? I would much prefer Bernstein, Vänskä, (the underrated) Sanderling, Blomstedt and Maazel in these works.

As in everything else Seán these are very subjective things and personal preferences tend to rule here.

fergus wrote:

Jose Echenique wrote:Many still think Robert Kajanus the finest Sibelius conductor ever, but he died in 1933 and his recordings are very primitive.
With the advent of the LP in 1950 large scale symphonic works finally received worthy recordings, and fortunately for Sibelius, he lived long enough to witness how viral his popularity went in the new medium.

I do have a CD set of Kajanus cunducting Sibelius 1, 2, 3, 5 and other works Pepe which is of very passable quality and which is an interesting historical record.

I have that too, and it´s immediately obvious that Kajanus was a conductor on the level of Furtwängler and Toscanini, but at least I, prefer a modern recording for the sheer range and sense of space that is so important in a Sibelius symphony. Still, like in the pre- War Furtwängler recordings, the Kajanus will always be treasured for giving us a glimpse of how this music was played in the first half of the 20th Century.

Jose Echenique wrote:

fergus wrote:

Jose Echenique wrote:Many still think Robert Kajanus the finest Sibelius conductor ever, but he died in 1933 and his recordings are very primitive.
With the advent of the LP in 1950 large scale symphonic works finally received worthy recordings, and fortunately for Sibelius, he lived long enough to witness how viral his popularity went in the new medium.

I do have a CD set of Kajanus cunducting Sibelius 1, 2, 3, 5 and other works Pepe which is of very passable quality and which is an interesting historical record.

I have that too, and it´s immediately obvious that Kajanus was a conductor on the level of Furtwängler and Toscanini, but at least I, prefer a modern recording for the sheer range and sense of space that is so important in a Sibelius symphony. Still, like in the pre- War Furtwängler recordings, the Kajanus will always be treasured for giving us a glimpse of how this music was played in the first half of the 20th Century.

And importantly Pepe, how the composer himself liked the music to be interpreted.

On Pepe's recommendation: