Finnish conducting prodigy Mikko Franck, just 21 years old, makes an impressive recording debut with this disc, featuring music that allows him to be compared to other top-notch conductors but that also permits him to assert his individuality and sense of fantasy. Let it be said at the outset that Franck is very, very good. In two respects at least, he proves himself an outstanding exponent of this music. First, he executes masterful transitions between sections in different tempos: for instance, from the introduction to the main allegro in En Saga, as well as from the work’s quiet central interlude to its biggest climax. The same large-scale structural control is equally evident in the first of the Lemminkäinen Legends, which has never been done better. In an absolutely masterful display of podium technique, Franck imperceptibly builds the passionate love music episodes with complete naturalness from near stasis to an erotic frenzy.
Second, he’s very attentive to melodic accentuation and inflection (indeed, his En Saga is almost a revelation in this respect), and this gives the music life and textural interest. He secures excellent, concentrated playing from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and if I have any reservation, it’s that Franck’s preference for broad tempos mutes some of the excitement of Lemminkäinen’s Return–though here again, the slower initial tempo does permit him (almost alone among conductors) to follow Sibelius’ instructions exactly and make a huge accelerando, doubling the tempo leading into the coda. So there you have it: conducting that is idiomatic, intelligent, and respectful of the score, but also nicely individualized. Ondine’s recorded sound is warm and very naturally balanced, lacking only the last amount of definition at the bottom end (always a problem in En Saga, with it’s soloistic bass drum writing). A winner.
