Colin Davis and the LSO are at it again in Sibelius, and while I generally take a dim view of so much repertoire duplication by the same artists, here I have to admit that they have a point. Their previous cycle for RCA was very spotty indeed, slackly played and not at all well recorded, particularly in the Third Symphony, and this remake makes handsome amends for what otherwise would have remained a blot on the career of one of our great Sibelius conductors and on an orchestra with as rich a tradition in this music as any.
It’s very interesting to compare this live performance to Olli Mustonen’s recent release on Ondine, for while they are aesthetically at polar opposites (Mustonen is swift and lean, strictly sticking to the letter of the score, with Davis unhurried and generously free with gear shifts in transitional passages) both conductors achieve complete top-to-bottom clarity of texture and understand the music’s unsentimental, neo-classical underpinnings. In the first movement (the most controversially slow in this interpretation) Davis nearly comes to a dead halt at the opening of the development, and his milking of the second subject in the cellos may raise a few eyebrows, but he’s so rhythmically pointed, and the ensemble is so well-balanced and in tune with what he wants to do that he banishes all reservations.
The second movement is slow, but not as slow as, say, Vänskä, and Davis takes most of the extra time in the first interlude, conjuring up a magical solemnity to those hymn-like interjections from the lower strings. When the principal thematic material returns, listen to the clarity of the pizzicato accompaniment and to the playful caroling of the woodwinds in their rolling arabesques toward the end. Although this movement often has been described as a combination of scherzo and slow movement, it seldom sounds so. Here it really does; it’s an absolutely masterful characterization of music that in most other performances puzzles as often as it enchants.
The finale also succeeds where previously it failed. It goes at a good clip, with an especially clean rhythmic response from the strings (it can so easily sound scrappy) and a real “crescendo possibile” introducing the scurrying transition to the Big Tune. When that event finally arrives Davis wisely refrains from holding the reins too tightly, while the final buildup and layering of sound is masterly regarding both tempo and balance. Davis brings the movement home like a master pilot landing his plane on a short airstrip: you never have the feeling that the music needs more room in which to come to a stop.
The previous recording of the Seventh Symphony from these forces was much more successful than that of the Third, but it comes (if indeed it’s still available) as part of a two-disc set that includes probably the world’s slowest and dullest Kullervo Symphony–and however interesting it may be to have the great composer’s first and last thoughts in the symphonic medium, that surely is not the coupling of choice. In any event, Davis knows how to present the symphony as a single, organic musical entity. The opening adagio sings solemnly but never heavily, and the principal trombone plays very well when the symphony’s “motto” theme finally arrives, though the succeeding section admittedly droops a bit.
Performances of this symphony succeed or fail on the strength of the transitions, and once the tempo picks up after the presentation of the motto theme, matters go swimmingly. The lead-in to the central pastoral episode has particular inevitability and freshness, and while the closing pages are more gently handled than usual, they also never sound disconnected, and this makes the final “amen” far more satisfying and committed than it often turns out. Sonically this is also one of the better efforts from this source, as the somewhat dry acoustic of the Barbican suits the music and what Davis wants to do with it very well, offering clarity but also a coherent ensemble image. I look forward to more Sibelius from these forces. At budget price, this release will be tough to beat.
