Of the comparative versions listed above all but the Karajan are also listed in the LP catalogue, though the latter is still available on cassette. With this new issue Jukka-Pekka Saraste embarks on a complete cycle with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and on the face of it they appear to be in slightly better shape than they were when they recorded the present symphony for DG (nla) with Okko Kamu in 1973. (Incidentally, Kamu's DG account of No. 3 still remains one of the very best and would be well worth resurrecting.)
Saraste's reading of No. 1 is pleasingly unidiosyncratic: it is straightforward, well conceived and well held together. The tempo of the slow movement is very well judged: it is understated and all the more affecting for that, and the scherzo is nearer the right tempo than with Simon Rattle (EMI). In the last pages of the slow movement he makes a full beat of the commas inserted between the phrases of the theme (as does Rattle), which I can't say I particularly care for. This is much less exaggerated earlier in the movement. The Karelia Overture comes off well though I can't say I found anything special about the Suite—both the ''Ballade'' and the ''Alla marcia'' struck me as more touched by routine than distinction. The recording, made in the House of Culture, Helsinki by Brian Culverhouse, has the ambience of a broadcasting studio rather than of a good concert hall.
Although the coupling is generous (Karajan on EMI and Ashkenazy on Decca offer the Karelia Suite only), the orchestral playing is—with the best will in the world—not in the same class as the Philharmonia for Ashkenazy, let alone the Berlin Philharmonic for Karajan. Both are somewhat higher voltage performances and of stronger personality. A penny-in-the-slot reaction but a natural one, given the fact that he is relatively young (32), is whether Saraste's interpretations are yet ready to be 'immortalized' on disc. He has a fine musical intelligence and good taste: the symphony is given an eminently respectable performance with many positive merits and, though I enjoyed it and will doubtless return to it, it will not be in preference to, say, the finest of the past (Kajanus, Collins, Maazel and Barbirolli) or among those listed above, the Karajan and Ashkenazy.'