Both previous instalments (1/97 and 6/98) in Paavo Berglund’s Sibelius symphony cycle with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (and his third in all) have already provoked much divided critical comment, and these new accounts of the first two symphonies similarly challenge our preconceptions.
Leaner and more restrained than Berglund’s own fine Helsinki PO predecessor of 1986, the First emerges with a rugged integrity and lofty severity that will definitely not be to all tastes. Textual emendations and revelatory textural details are legion (those woodwind trills between 4'42'' and 5'36'' in the slow movement, for instance, have never seemed eerier), but there’s also no getting away from a certain pristine calculation about the proceedings. The resulting whiff of over-preparation tends to preclude total engagement, yet Berglund’s uncompromising manner can bring with it an often riveting concentration and starkness: in the first-movement development, for instance, I’ve never been made more aware of how daringly original and forward-looking this music is (unexpected pre-echoes here of the Fourth), and the same applies to the central portion of the finale, with its snapping brass and almost primeval fury.
I very much like the taut authority of Berglund’s new Second, a noble and defiantly unsentimental interpretation which is clearly the product of long study. Moreover, to my ears, the gifted members of the COE respond with slightly more re-creative fervour and spontaneity than they do in No. 1 (their augmented strings certainly sing out stirringly in the finale). The opening Allegretto combines pleasing rigour (the Finnish conductor’s granitic handling of the development section is especially compulsive) with characteristic economy of gesture, the one exception being Berglund’s unusually ‘choppy’ articulation of the string motif at 1'35'' and again at 2'03'' (the effect is now more fussily self-conscious than it was on his Helsinki recording). Elsewhere, the slow movement is held together in masterly fashion (those tricky brass exclamations at 3'33'' and later at 8'11'' have an enormous grip about them), while both Scherzo and finale attain an effortless momentum and considerable cumulative power.
Writing about this conductor’s likeable 1987 recording of the Third in my July 1997 “Collection”, I commented approvingly on the “ruddy complexion of Berglund’s consistently well-sprung reading, the bucolic, out-of-doors freshness of his Helsinki woodwinds”. By comparison, the COE wind principals leave a very cultured impression, especially in the slow movement which is exquisitely poised yet still somehow wanting in real tenderness and bardic mystery. What concerns me rather more is the absence of a truly epic countenance in both outer movements – an impression only kindled in part by the reappearance of the COE’s normal, comparatively modest body of strings. A pity, too, that Berglund elects to ignore those myriad tempo changes in the latter half of the finale’s scherzo portion. True, he does eventually mastermind an agreeably dignified peroration, but it comes a little too late in the day to rescue matters. Something of a disappointment, then, and no match for either of Berglund’s earlier versions.
The three symphonies are available either as a separate specially-priced, slimline ‘twofer’ or within a four-CD box containing the whole cycle. Nos. 4, 6 and 7 were recorded in Watford Colosseum and boast altogether more lustrous engineering than do the remainder (though the sound on Nos. 1-3 is pleasingly clear and unglamorous). The present partnership’s pure-toned readings of the Fourth and Sixth evince tremendous concentration allied to astounding clarity: the results are pretty inspirational, the music’s inner workings laid bare as rarely before. Less satisfying is the Fifth, which, in spite of some unforgettable touches, is scuppered by a oddly laboured, crude culmination (replete with blaring trombones) as well as some sloppy production-values (what I presume to be an editing slip deprives us of a crotchet at 10'41'' in the first movement). Both here and in the Seventh (a conception of gaunt inevitability and keen arctic chill), Berglund’s frequent textual ‘corrections’ provide much food for thought (the conductor is, I believe, preparing new editions for the publisher, Wilhelm Hansen).
Summing up: Berglund’s Helsinki PO cycle (now available on two mid-price EMI Forte two-CD sets) is by no means outclassed – and his even earlier Bournemouth SO series has just resurfaced in a three-CD box on super-budget Royal Classics – but all Sibelians should try to hear this Finlandia set, which I guarantee will stimulate and intrigue in abundance.'