Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt - Sibelius Symphony No. 2 (1956) [2009]

One of the finest recorded performances of Sibelius' Second

Superb XR-remastered sound from this John Culshaw production for Capitol

This is one of the great recordings of the Second Symphony of Sibelius, and it's something of a mystery as to why it's not been reissued before. We are grateful to ardent Sibelius enthusiast John J Davis for the loan of his LP for this transfer - of his collection 37 recordings of the work this is the only one he rates amongst his personal favourites which has remained stuck in the LP era.

It was excellently received at the time - its UK issue (on Parlophone) was reviewed in The Gramophone in May 1958:

...the recorded quality of the new Parlophone disc is exceptionally good, with an emphasis, in loud moments as well as soft, on clarity. In the case of the timpani there is in fact greater clarity than I can recall ever hearing on disc before, considerably greater than is often the case in the concert hall. The note tells, at whatever dynamic level it may be played ; and its pitch (an infallible one : the Hamburg player is a first-class timpanist) sings out miraculously. Thus the new timpani part to the end of the finale is doubly effective (had this revision, now often heard, Sibelius's authority?*—I do not know, and would much like to) ; and the slow movement, too, gains in many passages. The opening of this movement gains also from the care taken by the 'cellos and basses to avoid using open strings in the pizzicato passages. This is only symptomatic of the extreme care in performance that has been taken throughout ; and the result is rewarding.

Schmidt-Isserstedt for much of the time concentrates on the spaciousness of the music rather than its impulse ; and this might conceivably be held to rob the first movement, and perhaps the finale too, of some small degree of their potential excitement. But the Scherzo is as exciting as can be ; and in any event the view taken of the symphony is an eminently reasonable one.

This reading, allied to the excellent qualities of both the performance and the recording are sufficient to make the new Parlophone version of this symphony a formidable one...

M.M.

*NB. The present recording includes a revised timpani part at the end of the finale from the conductor Serge Koussevitzky. Although it never received the approval of the composer, so was never officially incorporated into the published score, Koussevitzky's revision has been taken up by others besides Schmidt-Isserstedt (though not by any Finnish conductors), including Anthony Collins and Sir Charles Mackerras


Tracks:

SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2

Personnel:

N.W.D.R. Symphony Orchestra of Hamburg
conducted by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt