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Discussion: Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 5 - Vänskä

Posts: 234
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Post by Chris January 12, 2012 (61 of 234)
Problems solved and Christmas packet opened.
I guess I could limit myself to one word :
WOW!
But let me elaborate a bit on my first impressions after the truly meditative experience of listening to these two Sibelius symphonies from BIS.

SQ-wise no other recordings that I have of them are as good or even close.
The 24/96 pcm recording has a transparency and an openness and an extremely low level of distorion or rather,lack of the same and is of absolute SOTA standard IMHO.
Tonally,timbrally very very lifelike and very highly resolved!
There are quite a few examples of very low level ie ppp passages where whispering strings still maintain their body and natural timbre in a way they did not quite manage to ,in the Beethoven recordings from Minnesota.
Very realistic indeed
I have only heard the stereo version in 24/96 pcm but I am very impressed with what I heard.
I doubt that it can get significantly better in pcm , than this as far the above criteria are concerned.
The reverb time of the Minnesota Hall seems a bit a short compared to some other halls,but it has been captured very well even in stereo and the final chords of the fifth ring out clearly .
I suppose some will have opinions on the somewhat close balancing with a conductor's perspective on things,but if, as me you want Sibelius's scores laid bare before you under a master conductor ,here it is.
Musically I am equally truly impressed and for me listening to both symphonies was equal to a good deep meditation.
I guess some maybe Edvin? will find faults "micromanagement" or whatever he sometimes complains about when IMO a conductor knows the score truly intimately and directs it from that intimate knowledge.
To me mere mortal it sounds like "God has opened the door to his orchestra and they are playing the fifth symphony" to quote Sibelius himself regarding this symphony.
In other words I get the impression that they are playing at their very best for Vänska.Ps so far I have only listened via HD 800 headphones, the most revealing way in my system. Warts and all,as the saying goes. Only that there are no warts here IMO!
And let me add, nice appropriate covershot by a friend and colleage of mine.
Finally,I am going to behave like a spoilt child again, and cry out loud for the next release in this series asap, please!

Post by Polarius T January 12, 2012 (62 of 234)
Chris said:

Problems solved and Christmas packet opened.
I guess I could limit myself to one word :
WOW!...

Thanks; although I'm a bit more interested in the new, as yet unfolding set by Kamu, this just about does it for me and I'm going to make sure I get to thoroughly immerse in this one as well. (As if I hadn't had enough exposure to these works already...)

My first exposure to Kamu's new Sibelius I could describe in about the exact same terms, so this must be something special.

PT

Post by Russell January 12, 2012 (63 of 234)
I've only had a chance to listen (via headphones) to the first movement and a bit of the second of the 2nd Symphony, but I have to echo Chris's words about the sound quality: it's really impressive, particularly in the 'blackness' of the background in quiet passages. Interpretively I was a bit surprised to see that Vanska has slowed the pacing of the second movement dramatically compared to his Lahti recording; not sure if it works for me, but I'll need to listen again.

BTW, I'm on a Mac and had no problem unzipping the files. (I'm on OSX 10.7.2 Lion; when I was on Snow Leopard, the eClassical zip files weren't unzipping properly on their own, so I used Stuffit Expander (free).)

Russell

Post by Vaan January 12, 2012 (64 of 234)
Dreadful cover. Can we please have Sibelius without swans in the future.

Post by flyingdutchman January 12, 2012 (65 of 234)
Vaan said:

Dreadful cover. Can we please have Sibelius without swans in the future.

Yes, I'm going to think about covers when I listen to music.

Post by Chris January 12, 2012 (66 of 234)
Polarius T said:

Thanks; although I'm a bit more interested in the new, as yet unfolding set by Kamu, this just about does it for me and I'm going to make sure I get to thoroughly immerse in this one as well. (As if I hadn't had enough exposure to these works already...)

My first exposure to Kamu's new Sibelius I could describe in about the exact same terms, so this must be something special.

PT

And this one is available here and now,and I would recommend anyone with more than a superficial interest in Sibelius's music to listen to this recording.
Pure joy IMHO.
And if one doesn't like "Cygnus cygnus" one doesn't have to look at them while listening.
I generally listen to music with closed eyes, makes me more focused on actually listening.

Post by Chris January 12, 2012 (67 of 234)
Arnaldo said:

Kind of contradictory, isn't it? To start with "I cannot use this space to discuss eClassical" and then follow up with "I saw your post, woke up the CEO of eClassical." Regardless, weren't Zeus' restrictions were over downloads in general? It looks like some people here have an easier time unzipping files than understanding a simple request.

OTOH, it's rather interesting to see the initial reaction of old time BIS fans over the transition from 44.1/24 to 96/24 recordings. I guess for them, 96 is the new 44.1, just like 40 is the new 30...

OOPS the moral police are doing their round again I spy!

Post by wehecht January 12, 2012 (68 of 234)
Chris said:

OOPS the moral police are doing their round again I spy!

Chris,

It's nothing to do with moral policing, just asking for simple respect for zeus' request, which has been issued politely numerous times. Thanks for your comments on the new Sibelius. I'm expecting my shiny silver object to arrive sometime next week.

Bill

Post by hiredfox January 12, 2012 (69 of 234)
Vaan said:

Dreadful cover. Can we please have Sibelius without swans in the future.

...and sunsets.

Sort of thing they did for Karajan in the 70's.

Post by Chris January 12, 2012 (70 of 234)
hiredfox said:

...and sunsets.

Sort of thing they did for Karajan in the 70's.

And yet simple things like sunsets and Whooper swans against sunsets are things that inspired Sibelius to write some of his greatest compositions.
IMO an appropriate cover.
And a nice change from all the "grey stuff" we've had from some other labels recently.
And by the 70s almost all the DGG and EMI covers were close up shots of Karajan.
The sunsets were more popular in the 50s and 60s.
Anyway these recordings could also be described as intoxicating, do give them a chance even if you don't like the covershot.
I am really happy they didn't use a shot of Vänska in his hockeyshirt? at the sessions.

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