Under 45 minutes of music here, but few customers should complain as they listen to such powerful performances of four favourite Sibelius compositions. If the opening Finlandia is perhaps too familiar, for all its stunning dynamics, tension and orchestral virtuosity, one could cue up Tapiola instead—the fourth and final track on the disc—for confirmation that the disc's purchase price was money well spent. Every nuance and climax of this great tone poem is reproduced with stunning clarity. Karajan's earlier Columbia recordings, starting with the Philharmonia Orchestra back in 1954, have left us in no doubt of his affinity with this composer. This latest performance shows the conductor and his superlative Berlin musicians at the top of their form, and the technical quality is suitably up to today's very best standards. The two shorter items, The swan and Valse triste, are similarly charged with a most impressive degree of atmosphere and tonal precision.'