Sibelius: 'The White Box'

The Complete Symphonies and Kullervo

Iceland Symphony Orchestra / Petri Sakari

Naxos 8.505179 (5 discs)

Playing Time: 5 hrs 58 mins

Anthony Kershaw

I approached this recent Sibelius 'White Box' from Naxos with great excitement after previously enjoying the single disc release of its 4th and 5th symphonies. The eight initial releases in this White Box series contain some real delights and a few duds. This Sibelius set is very much representative of the former.

Naxos has recorded Sibelius symphonies before, and with some success. But if truth be told, the early Adrian Leaper/Slovak Philharmonic recordings are no match for the interpretive insights of Finland's Petri Sakari and the sophistication of his Icelandic band.

The set contains all seven symphonies, incidental music to The Tempest, and the early choral symphony, Kullervo. With the exception of some intonation problems in The Tempest, the standard of performance is uniformly high. The recordings were made in two different locations - the unity in sound throughout all recording sessions is quite exceptional.

The Kullervo symphony is the recorded exception, and is performed by conducting teacher extraordinaire, Jorma Panula, a soprano and baritone soloist, and Finland's Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Both orchestra and soloists are very good, although the orchestra is not quite in the Iceland Symphony's league. Kullervo is definitely from the Finlandia copybook and extols the nationalism that Sibelius was feeling at the time. In fact, it was this work that placed Sibelius in the forefront of Finnish musicians. Finlandia rubber-stamped his reputation.

From the well-written notes, it seems the first performance of Kullervo was a great success. If it was anything like the excellent performance here, I can hear why. The Turku musicians have the piece in their blood and the fervour and predisposition to the style shows. With the exception of a long ago hearing of Paavo Berglund's Bournemouth Symphony performance, I have nothing with which to compare. For about six bucks for the disc, how could you go wrong?

The meat of this set is the magnificent seven symphonies. Listening to them in order was enlightening, exciting, profound, heartbreaking, and ultimately uplifting (even with the 'indifference' of the final 7th closing enigmatically). Petri Sakari has a unified approach to all seven works - no undue effects, adherence to the marked tempos, well-balanced orchestration, solos that are allowed time to unfold naturally, rhythmic integrity, and the patience to see the pieces through. The Iceland Symphony and Sakari, not mainstays of the recorded world, have taken their daunting task very seriously and have trumped several famous (and much more expensive) sets. A wonderful achievement!

Along with this budget set, try Maazel (London), Barbirolli and Berglund (both EMI) -- all have sublime thoughts on this magnificent Opus. Ownership of just Sakari's set would not get you thrown out of the Sibelius League, but the purchase of it, in addition to one or more of the sets mentioned, would give the Sibelius admirer balance enough for a true appreciation of the music. Moreover, these sets will allow the listener to hear the glorious present and past of recorded arts, and the time to sit back and admire superbly executed orchestral music.