I'm a huge Sibelius fan but had never heard of this cycle until I listened to the Ultimate Classical Music Guide. It completely lives up to the hype. Every bar is good.
This is a great performance of what is for me Sibelius's finest symphony. An extraordinarily original piece of music, quite unlike anything else. Chase yet impassioned, elusive but of supremely fluent beauty, music of sublime poetry.
I moved to San Francisco in 1982. Edo de Waart was the Principal Director...The Louise M Davis Symphony Hall was just inaugurated in 1980...and in 1985 here comes Herbert Blomstedt, a Swedish Conductor music director of the famous Staatskapelle Dresden..one of the oldest and most famous of the German's Orchestra. And the miracle happened. The SF Symphony under his directions became one the best Symphony Orchestra in USA and started touring Europe and started playing the "classic" repertoire. I witnessed some of the best "live" concerts in that hall during Blomstedt years, including live performances of many of the Sibelius, Grieg and Nielsen works. Than MTT arrived in 1995 and the orchestra became one of the best orchestra in the "World" and one of the best orchestra to play Mahler works. But the Sibelius SF Symphony cycle under Blomstedt is still an incredible showcase of great conducting and remarkable playing by the SF Symphony musicians. Thanks for posting.
![[Konwitschny] Beethoven: Choral Fantasia Op.80](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/mN1R6T7m6NE/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm a huge Sibelius fan but had never heard of this cycle until I listened to the Ultimate Classical Music Guide. It completely lives up to the hype. Every bar is good.
This is a great performance of what is for me Sibelius's finest symphony. An extraordinarily original piece of music, quite unlike anything else. Chase yet impassioned, elusive but of supremely fluent beauty, music of sublime poetry.
I moved to San Francisco in 1982. Edo de Waart was the Principal Director...The Louise M Davis Symphony Hall was just inaugurated in 1980...and in 1985 here comes Herbert Blomstedt, a Swedish Conductor music director of the famous Staatskapelle Dresden..one of the oldest and most famous of the German's Orchestra. And the miracle happened. The SF Symphony under his directions became one the best Symphony Orchestra in USA and started touring Europe and started playing the "classic" repertoire. I witnessed some of the best "live" concerts in that hall during Blomstedt years, including live performances of many of the Sibelius, Grieg and Nielsen works.
Than MTT arrived in 1995 and the orchestra became one of the best orchestra in the "World" and one of the best orchestra to play Mahler works.
But the Sibelius SF Symphony cycle under Blomstedt is still an incredible showcase of great conducting and remarkable playing by the SF Symphony musicians. Thanks for posting.
The third decade of the 20th Century was a fascinating time for symphonies: 1921 - Roussel 2, Vaughan Williams 3; 1922 - Bax 2, Nielsen 5; 1923 - Sibelius 6; 1924 - Copland Organ; Ives 4, Sibelius 7; 1925 - Nielsen 6, Prokofiev 2, Shostakovich 1; 1926 - Bax 2; 1927 - Shostakovich 2; 1928 - Copland 1; Prokofiev 3, Webern op.21; 1929 - Bax 3, Copland Dance, Shostakovich 3; 1930 - Prokofiev 4, Roussel 3, Still 1, Stravinsky Psalms.