Herbert von Karajan - Sibelius: Symphony No. 4, The Swan of Tuonela (1966) [2015] Hi-Res

Herbert von Karajan was known as an advocate of Sibelius's music in the 1940's and
early 1950's when it was rarely played in continental Europe. The composer himself
described Karajan as a "great master" and felt that of the younger generation of
conductors (he was writing in the 1950's) he was the one who had the greatest
feeling for his music. In 1938 the Head of Swedish Radio had invited Karajan to
conduct the Sixth Symphony in Stockholm and the performance by the 30 year old
General Music Director from Aachen had been widely admired. So began a life-long
enthusiam for the Finnish composer's work which Karajan always felt could never be
compared to the music of anyone else. Although he never conducted the Third
symphony, the later symphonies and the tone poem "Tapiola" fascinated him as
music which evolved organically out of the sound world of the Finnish landscape. The
Sibelius scholar and biographer Erik Tawaststjerna inscribed the following dedication
in Karajan's copy of his book:
"To Herbert von Karajan. The only conductor who understands
the Fourth Symphony. Erik Tawaststjerna"
Herbert von Karajan had with the Philharmonia in 1952 had already rendered one
the bleakest, darkest, and most nihilistic recording of the work ever made. Karajan
uses bells in the closing Allegro of the Fourth to announce the end of hope. The
playing of the '50s Philharmonia is tight, loose, sleek, lush, and radiantly colorful.
The production of Walter Legge is lucid, warm, vivid, and deep.
The Fourth Symphony remains probably Sibelius' least "accessible" symphony to
the novice listener. Karajan and his responsive players eect the desolate opening
of the Fourth with the most unjarring sonority to be heard in this work -- the
double-basses emanating from silence with gentle moroseness, not with brazen
foreboding a la Maazel and most others. From there, we are led across the mostly
dark musical landscape with a very eective miscellany of textures and dynamics,
some well-timed and uniquely executed dissonances, and a feeling that the
struggle to eect a mostly impalpable but substantive expression is being brought
to bear by dedicated champions. I suppose one could quibble about the seeming
terseness of the ending, but when one has just experienced such an overwhelmingly committed performance, it is just that, a quibble.
For The Swan of Tuonela, I would declare that Karajan’s is a very ne recording of
one of Sibelius' best-known shorter works. Lesser known tone poems based on the
mythic scenes from the Finnish Kalevala: "The Swan of Tuonela" and "Tapiola" are
harmonically sparse, perhaps intended to reect the starkly beautiful, monochrome
Finnish landscape which Karajan accomplishes admirably. The Swan of Tuonela is
incredibly beautiful as well as atmospheric


Tracks:

I. Tempo molto moderato, quasi adagio
II. Allegro molto vivace
III. Il tempo largo
IV. Allegro
V . The Swan of Tuonela

Personnel:

Berlin Philharmonic
Herbert von Karajan