One of the biggest problems facing the classical music market today comes from the proliferation of recordings made not because they should be, but because they could be. Here’s a case in point. Uwe Mund and the Kyoto Symphony have no business recording this music. From the very first notes of Finlandia–soft-edged, rhythmically casual, lacking bite and grandeur–we know we’re in trouble. The Kyoto Symphony lacks the technical finesse (especially in the strings) to make anything out of the Four Legends. They fail to evoke the passion in the first movement’s love music, to project the haunted atmospheric of The Swan of Tuonela, or to capture the violence and terror of Lemminkäinen in Tuonela. Lemminkäinen’s Return, one of the most exciting pieces in the Romantic repertoire, stubbornly refuses to catch fire. The quiet central section bogs down, and Mund’s cautious, controlling baton stifles what little excitement remains. Even the final movement of the Karelia Suite creeps by at rehearsal tempos, utterly enervated. We’re long past the point where listeners wanting a bargain need settle for second best–witness Naxos’ recent excellent version of the Four Legends with the Iceland Symphony, or Stein’s on Decca, not to mention the fabulous full-priced recordings by Segerstam (Ondine) or Järvi (Virgin). In sum, this is a loser at any price.
