June round-up

Following their recordings of Sibelius’s Complete Symphonies, Paavo Berglund and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe gave the complete cycle at the Helsinki Festival in 1998. The Finlandia Hall is on the dry side, which sometimes emphasises the size of the orchestra – there were times when I longed for more strings. But there’s some very distinguished playing, especially in the wind section, and Berglund never over-indulges the music, always a mistake with Sibelius. The video presentation over-relies on close-ups, and, as is often the case, has a restlessness in cutting which goes against the music’s pulse. You can always shut your eyes. (ICA DVD: ICAD 5162; Blu-ray: ICABD 5163) ★★★

Once you have tuned your ears into the reverberant acoustic of Coventry Cathedral, this 1964 performance of Elgar’s Symphony No. 2 is a striking one from John Barbirolli and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Tempos are considered, but there’s no lack of tension, with the music in the bones of both orchestra and conductor.

The broad sweep of the structure is assured, even if detail is missing in the more congested scoring – internal lines in the strings in particular are hard to discern, harps are often obscured, and the dynamic range of the mono recording is restricted. And yet, by the end, the journey has been utterly compelling. (Barbirolli Society SJB 1107) ★★★★

Elgar from America, Vol. 3 sees Barbirolli’s return to the New York Philharmonic in 1959, after 16-years’ absence. This orchestra is less familiar with the music, but the performance of the Introduction and Allegro has vibrancy and muscle, while The Dream of Gerontius is notable for the singing of Richard Lewis – his New York debut – freer than in his later studio recording. Even more impressive is the Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester, with a wide range of colour and emotion in her voice. The Westminster Choir takes a while to settle, and are often backward in the sound, but this is another whitehot performance caught on the wing. (SOMM ARIADNE 5015-2) ★★★★

Klaus Tennstedt ’s partnership with the LPO was a golden era, and his beguiling way with music from the German tradition comes through in Jessye Norman Sings Strauss, from 1986. Norman adds lustre to the already burnished orchestral playing in five songs, familiar from her studio version with Masur. Interpretatively there’s not much to choose between them, but she’s more dramatic in characterising the insanity in the final scene from Salomé than in her complete recording. In between, there’s the neoclassical suite from Le bourgeois gentilhomme, with some fine solo playing, although string tone could be leaner overall to capture the style more fully. (LPO LPO 0122) ★★★★

Leon Fleisher Live, Vol. 1 sees performances from the years just before he lost movement in his right hand in 1964, and give a flavour of his blazing pianism. In the two Brahms concertos from Tanglewood, Pierre Monteux ensures a tight orchestral balance, although there are some anxious moments along the way, and the recordings are somewhat restricted, with a tendency to overload at climaxes. Sound is again a distraction in Mozart’s

K488, especially in the Adagio, where the tone of the piano is never quite stable.

Most effective is the 1957 Salzburg Festival recording of K503, with Fleisher’s poise enhanced by the stylish contribution of the Berlin Philharmonic under George Szell. (Doremi DHR-8158/9) ★★★