Jean Sibelius:
01. - 05. Kullervo. Symphonic Poem, op.7 [72'34]
Johanna Rusanen- soprano, Esa Ruuttunen- baritone, Laulun Ystavat Male Choir, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jorma Panula
Naxos 8.553756 (recorded June 1996; CD issued 1996)
(CD-rip; flacs, cover, booklet and inlay scans)
Recording venue: Turku Concert Hall, Finland
Recording engineer: Matti Heinonen; Producer: Michael Ponder
Jorma Panula is, of course, one of the world's great teachers of conducting; resulting in so many fine Finnish conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Sakari Oramo. Strangely he has made few recordings and those are mainly of less familiar works by mainly Finnish composers
Since 1970 when the UK's Sibelius fans were stunned by Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony's performances for almost the first time since Kullervo's completion in 1892, their subsequent spectacular first commercial recording (for EMI) has held first place for many listeners ever since. (You can find an excellent transfer from LP by friend arepomd here on MIMIC.) I had the pleasure to attend one of these performances - given in Portsmouth Guildhall before the recording was made - and was amazed that such a great work had been suppressed for such a long time.
Many subsequent recordings that I have heard, including Berglund's later Helsinki recording, have proved disappointing in comparison. The recent recordings under Hannu Lintu and Osmo Vanska (both conductors also taught by Panula) seem curiously under powered.
The only worthy competitors for me are this recording under Jorma Panula and the 1985 recording by Neeme Jarvi in Gothenburg with the same choir for BIS - although some may well find the latter just too rushed. (I haven't heard the BBC Music Magazine issue of a 2015 Proms performance conducted by Sakari Oramo but on the basis of hearing an off-air dub, his may also be a contender).
Jorma Panula, like Berglund in Bournemouth, conveys the great sweep of the music with tempi that never flag and he has a superb choir (an equal match with Berglund's Helsinki University men) with excellent soloists - not as hectoring as many can become. The recorded sound, whilst not quite matching Berglunds or Jarvi's, is still very fine. (Interestingly, Berglund's Bournemouth recording is the only recording of Kullervo in analog sound.)
Download from MEGA.
PS: If anybody has that BBCMM413 disc from the September 2017 issue, of the Proms performance conducted by Sakari Oramo (also with Johanna Rusanen singing Kullervo's sister), I shall be grateful for an upload.
01. - 05. Kullervo. Symphonic Poem, op.7 [72'34]
Johanna Rusanen- soprano, Esa Ruuttunen- baritone, Laulun Ystavat Male Choir, Turku Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jorma Panula
Naxos 8.553756 (recorded June 1996; CD issued 1996)
(CD-rip; flacs, cover, booklet and inlay scans)
Recording venue: Turku Concert Hall, Finland
Recording engineer: Matti Heinonen; Producer: Michael Ponder
Jorma Panula is, of course, one of the world's great teachers of conducting; resulting in so many fine Finnish conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste and Sakari Oramo. Strangely he has made few recordings and those are mainly of less familiar works by mainly Finnish composers
Since 1970 when the UK's Sibelius fans were stunned by Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony's performances for almost the first time since Kullervo's completion in 1892, their subsequent spectacular first commercial recording (for EMI) has held first place for many listeners ever since. (You can find an excellent transfer from LP by friend arepomd here on MIMIC.) I had the pleasure to attend one of these performances - given in Portsmouth Guildhall before the recording was made - and was amazed that such a great work had been suppressed for such a long time.
Many subsequent recordings that I have heard, including Berglund's later Helsinki recording, have proved disappointing in comparison. The recent recordings under Hannu Lintu and Osmo Vanska (both conductors also taught by Panula) seem curiously under powered.
The only worthy competitors for me are this recording under Jorma Panula and the 1985 recording by Neeme Jarvi in Gothenburg with the same choir for BIS - although some may well find the latter just too rushed. (I haven't heard the BBC Music Magazine issue of a 2015 Proms performance conducted by Sakari Oramo but on the basis of hearing an off-air dub, his may also be a contender).
Jorma Panula, like Berglund in Bournemouth, conveys the great sweep of the music with tempi that never flag and he has a superb choir (an equal match with Berglund's Helsinki University men) with excellent soloists - not as hectoring as many can become. The recorded sound, whilst not quite matching Berglunds or Jarvi's, is still very fine. (Interestingly, Berglund's Bournemouth recording is the only recording of Kullervo in analog sound.)
Download from MEGA.
PS: If anybody has that BBCMM413 disc from the September 2017 issue, of the Proms performance conducted by Sakari Oramo (also with Johanna Rusanen singing Kullervo's sister), I shall be grateful for an upload.
