With the recent deletion of Ormandy's famous 1978 Philadelphia set on mid-price EMI Studio (4/79), top-notch versions of the Legends are not so thick on the ground at present. Leif Segerstam's intrepidly illuminating Helsinki PO account is certainly well worth acquiring, as is Petri Sakari's personable and enthusiastic rendering with the Iceland SO (really fine value at Naxos price). Happily, Jukka-Pekka Saraste's own 1989 recording with the Finnish RSO is also still listed - and extremely appealing it remains: not only does the orchestral playing evince an infectious commitment to the cause and easy familiarity with the idiom, the young Finnish maestro directs with a comprehensive emotional scope and keen- eyed intelligence that prove very rewarding.
Unfortunately, by the side of that earlier RCA release, Saraste's remake of Finlandia leaves a far less compelling impression. As before, Saraste drives the opening tableau hard, but there's too little compensating coherence and sweep, and details are now more fussily underlined, too. Nor can his Toronto strings muster the necessary tonal clout (Ormandy's fabulous Philadelphians have spoilt us for good in this wonderful essay) ; indeed, the orchestral response throughout lacks the last ounce of character and composure. Lemminkainen in Tuonela (which, as seems to be increasingly the trend these days, Saraste places second, reverting to Sibelius's original scheme) starts promisingly, but tensions soon dissipate. The Swan of Tuonela is even more disappointing, a terribly self-conscious, oddly flaccid conception, with comparatively undistinguished solo contributions. To add insult to injury, Saraste's perplexingly emasculated Lemminkainen's Return barely registers on my own adrenalin-metre. Nightride and Sunrise has its moments, but ultimately falls short in mystery and rugged majesty: try Kurt Sanderling's thrillingly inevitable 1977 account with the Berlin SO instead (quite the most riveting performance of this elusive creation I've ever encountered).
The recorded sound is velvety-smooth and impressively rich in the bass; tuttis, however, are wanting something in transparency. In a word: uncompetitive.
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