01. - 04. Lemminkainen Suite - 'Four Legends from the Kalevala', op.22 [46'03]
05. Night Ride and Sunrise, op.55 [14'20]
Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Warner Elatus 2564 60621-2 (recorded September 1998 - first issued as Finlandia 3984 27890-2; this CD release 2003)
(24bit/96kHz flacs; cover, inlay and booklet scans)
Recording location: Massey Hall, Toronto
Recording engineers: Onno Scholtze & Mark Donahue; Producer: Pekka Savijoki
This superb recording has appeared before here on MIMIC in CD resolution (posted by Kullervo in 2013) but the links are dead and it seemed worthwhile to add this high resolution transfer to Arepomd's recent post of the Sibelius Symphonies with Saraste conducting the Finnish Radio Symphony (not my rip - many thanks to the original uploader).
So many recordings of the Lemminkainen Suite are deficient in bass with the all important timpani and bass drum M.I.A. Not so here, although it doesn't quite match BIS's spectacular achievement for my overall favourite recording of the work with Neeme Jarvi and the Gothenburg Symphony (available on the Odeon blog - https://odeonmusic.blogspot.com/2012/09/sibelius-lemminkainen-suite-njarvi.html). Nevertheless balances are fine, without the inevitable highlighting of the cor anglais in The Swan of Tuonela heard on so many recordings, and tempi are just about ideal (pace David Hurwitz).
One oddity of this issue is that the four movements of the Lemminkainen Suite are played out of order (1, 3, 2, 4) and the equally fine performance of Night Ride and Sunrise doesn't sit very well following on from Lemminkainen's Return. I have therefore included a playlist with Night Ride first followed by the Lemminkainen Suite in the right order. In his earlier recording of the Lemminkainen Suite with the Finnish Radio Symphony for RCA, the movements are played in the correct order so I think this is not down to the conductor).
Download from MEGA.