01. - 04. Symphony No. 1 in E minor, op.39 [35'32]
07. - 09. Symphony No. 3 in C major, op.52 [27'26]
Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Paul Kletzki
Testament SBT1049 (recorded July 1955; this CD release 1995)
(mono flacs, cover - no booklet or inlay card)
Recording venue: Likely to be Kingsway Hall, London
Recording engineer: Likely to be Douglas Larter; Producer: Walter Legge
In 1955, Paul Kletzki and the Philharmonia recorded three Sibelius Symphonies - No.1, No.2 and No.3. For some reason, only No.2 was recorded in stereo and subsequently issued on CD by EMI. Symphony No.3 was never issued at all on LP in Europe but I understand that it was briefly issued on the Angel label in the USA. Rumour has it that Walter Legge held the recording back as he wanted Karajan to have a recording issued first. This is not my rip from the Testament CD release - many thanks to the original ripper - and the recording was sent to me by a friend. Unfortunately, I do not have the booklet but I assume that the recording team and venue are the same as for Symphony No.2. If anybody has the Testament CD, I would be grateful for a copy of the booklet to add to this post.
I have loved the Kletzki / Philharmonia recording of Symphony No.2 ever since I purchased an LP back in the early 1960s and it has remained one of my favourite recordings of the work ever since. Its excellent sounding incarnation on CD is here on MIMIC in an earlier post.
I heard this Testament issue when it was first released in 1995 and I must confess that it didn't make a great impression at the time - maybe because I was then less tolerant of mono sound. Nevertheless, I now find this performance of Symphony No.3 to be one of the finest ever. The first two movements flow briskly and there is great structural integrity throughout the symphony. This would be a good starting point for those who, like Eugene Ormandy, profess to "not understanding this symphony".
The Symphony No.1 also gets a fine, no-nonsense performance. As Robert Layton wrote in his review for Gramophone - "The warmth of this Kletzki performance frankly recognises Sibelius' inheritance from Tchaikovsky and the Russian nationalists and his reading has a great deal going for it - and it is beautifully played". Although mono, the sound is quite good for 1955 but not up to the Symphony No.2 recording.
Kletzki also recorded En Saga about the same time as the symphonies but that recording seems to have disappeared without trace.
Download from MEGA.