Artist: Herbert von Karajan Title: Sibelius: Symphony No. 4, The Swan of Tuonela Year Of Release: 1966 [2015] Label: HDTT Genre: Classical Quality: FLAC (Tracks) 24 Bit/96 kHz Total Time: 00:43:59 Total Size: 841 mb Herbert von Karajan was known as an advocate of Sibelius's music in the 1940's and early 1950's when it was rarely played in continental Europe. The composer himself described Karajan as a "great master" and felt that of the younger generation of conductors (he was writing in the 1950's) he was the one who had the greatest feeling for his music. In 1938 the Head of Swedish Radio had invited Karajan to conduct the Sixth Symphony in Stockholm and the performance by the 30 year old General Music Director from Aachen had been widely admired. So began a life-long enthusiam for the Finnish composer's work which Karajan always felt could never be compared to the music of anyone else. Although he never conducted the Third symphony, the later symphonies and the tone poem "Tapiola" fascinated him as music which evolved organically out of the sound world of the Finnish landscape. The Sibelius scholar and biographer Erik Tawaststjerna inscribed the following dedication in Karajan's copy of his book: "To Herbert von Karajan. The only conductor who understands the Fourth Symphony. Erik Tawaststjerna" Herbert von Karajan had with the Philharmonia in 1952 had already rendered one the bleakest, darkest, and most nihilistic recording of the work ever made. Karajan uses bells in the closing Allegro of the Fourth to announce the end of hope. The playing of the '50s Philharmonia is tight, loose, sleek, lush, and radiantly colorful. The production of Walter Legge is lucid, warm, vivid, and deep. The Fourth Symphony remains probably Sibelius' least "accessible" symphony to the novice listener. Karajan and his responsive players eect the desolate opening of the Fourth with the most unjarring sonority to be heard in this work -- the double-basses emanating from silence with gentle moroseness, not with brazen foreboding a la Maazel and most others. From there, we are led across the mostly dark musical landscape with a very eective miscellany of textures and dynamics, some well-timed and uniquely executed dissonances, and a feeling that the struggle to eect a mostly impalpable but substantive expression is being brought to bear by dedicated champions. I suppose one could quibble about the seeming terseness of the ending, but when one has just experienced such an overwhelmingly committed performance, it is just that, a quibble. For The Swan of Tuonela, I would declare that Karajan’s is a very ne recording of one of Sibelius' best-known shorter works. Lesser known tone poems based on the mythic scenes from the Finnish Kalevala: "The Swan of Tuonela" and "Tapiola" are harmonically sparse, perhaps intended to reect the starkly beautiful, monochrome Finnish landscape which Karajan accomplishes admirably. The Swan of Tuonela is incredibly beautiful as well as atmospheric Tracks: I. Tempo molto moderato, quasi adagio II. Allegro molto vivace III. Il tempo largo IV. Allegro V . The Swan of Tuonela Personnel: Berlin Philharmonic Herbert von Karajan