01. - 03. Symphony No.5 in E-flat major, op.82 [29'20]
04. Karelia Suite, op.11 [15'10]
Sinfonia of London conducted by Tauno Hannikainen
World Record Club T42 (recording date unknown; issued on LP in 1959)
(flacs, LP rip, LP cover and sleeve-back scans)
Here are two more fine performances of major works by Sibelius which have been rather overlooked in the digital era. These are not my rips (many thanks to the original ripper and uploader) and I am not at all sure of their provenance. The recordings were originally made for World Record Club, EMI's club offshoot, and this rip is claimed to be from the LP issued in 1959. This is backed up by the three movements of the Karelia Suite being all in one track.
The Sinfonia of London, EMI/World Record Club's "house" pick-up orchestra, was of variable quality but, at its best, rivaled most of the London orchestras and these recordings are no exception with fine orchestral playing. Many upcoming conductors of the time made their recording debuts with the orchestra, including Colin Davis and perhaps their most celebrated recording was with John Barbirolli in Vaughan Williams and Elgar music for strings.
Hannikainen was one of Sibelius’ favourite interpreters and here he provides refreshingly unromantic and somewhat cool performances with excellent control of the orchestra. The transition between the first and second movements of the Symphony are well managed and the lively and buoyant Karelia Suite has an intermezzo taken at quite a lick.
The sound quality on this rip is quite decent but probably not as good as the remastering from the master tapes that EMI carried out and then hid in an obscure USA issue of Symphonies No.2 and No.5 on the Seraphim label. The Symphony No.5 was also issued on EMI's Dutch offshoot Royal Classics label, c/w Rafael Kubelik's recording of Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4 with the Vienna Philharmonic. (Both symphonies and Karelia Suite were also released in fairly poor transfers in a collection on the Magdalen label.) If anybody has the Seraphim set, I shall be grateful for an upload. (The set also includes the Karelia Suite but I have never discovered whether the conductor is Tauno Hannikainen or Malcolm Sargent - who also features in that set.)
Download from MEGA.