This is Colin Davis’ third recording of these symphonies, and by far the least impressive. Even his otherwise not wonderful LSO coupling of these same works on RCA is audibly superior. The Fourth Symphony is more successful than the First, though by no means as fine as Davis’ Boston first version. Tempos have gotten slower, the first movement lacks a certain atmosphere in its creepy development section, and the climaxes of the finale aren’t perfectly timed (the big crescendo leading to the “sonore” passage for bells–here glockenspiel and chimes together–doesn’t quite come off). Still Davis’ has the measure of the music’s austerity: the Largo is impressively bleak, and the closing pages are aptly chilling.
The First Symphony, though, is a mess. Davis’ single interpretive concept: Italicize! This means an excessively slow tempo for the “motto” theme at the opening of the outer movements, as well as for the finale’s “big tune”. At the climax of the slow movement, Davis cuts the tempo in half, fatally destroying the accumulated momentum. He does the same thing with that jagged, dotted motive that features prominently in the finale (first appearing 10 bars after letter D). The result is obvious, expressively pointless, and to be honest somewhat amateurish. Coming from a Sibelian of this caliber it’s more than a little disappointing. The LSO plays well enough, though the strings lack body for the First Symphony’s romantic melodies, and the sonics are typical for this source: a bit hard and dry, but adequate.
