This album comes as something of an entr'acte in the cycle of Sibelius symphonies from Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and he applies the style familiar from his previous Sibelius symphony recordings to these mostly familiar tone poems. Finlandia and The Swan of Tuonela are so familiar, in fact, that Søndergård scores points just by offering something dramatically different from most of what's out there. His approach to Sibelius is dry, deliberate, and focused on transparency and ...
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This album comes as something of an entr'acte in the cycle of Sibelius symphonies from Danish conductor Thomas Søndergård and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and he applies the style familiar from his previous Sibelius symphony recordings to these mostly familiar tone poems. Finlandia and The Swan of Tuonela are so familiar, in fact, that Søndergård scores points just by offering something dramatically different from most of what's out there. His approach to Sibelius is dry, deliberate, and focused on transparency and the revelation of inner detail, and in realizing these goals, he draws fine playing from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The solitary English horn Swan of Tuonela is as entrancing here as anywhere, but perhaps the real surprise is Søndergård's distinctive Finlandia. You might think, no, this work of all works should be a real foot-stomper, but in Søndergård's hands, it's more of a panorama of natural Finland, almost mystical, with the big finale emerging as a sort of unwieldy...
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