Gone are the days when Sibelius’ music was viewed with disdain. We will remember the American critic Virgil Thomson who, in the 1940s, qualified the Symphony noh 2 of the Finnish composer of “vulgar, provincial and complacent”, and of the conductor René Leibowitz who, a few years later, spoke of Sibelius as the “worst composer in the world”.
The complete works of his seven symphonies are now commonplace. The eminent school of Finnish conductors, who have, one suspects, a flair for this music, are in the game: Berglund (three times!), Vänskä (twice), Saraste, Segerstam and most recently the young Klaus Mäkelä with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. The others are not outdone with Bernstein and Barbirolli, who dominate qualitatively, but also Blomstedt, Davis, Rattle, the Järvi and a few others.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin is being added to this list with the Orchester Métropolitain (OM). The Montreal chef started with the Firstreleased on its own before the pandemic, before skipping the Second (OM will play it next year in New York) to tackle the next two, recorded live in June 2021 and February 2022 respectively. Fifth was captured just last night.
If the Third had been the subject of a digital release in 2021, it is now coupled with the Fourth for physical output. The two works are among the least performed by the Finnish composer, unlike the nbone 1, 2 and 5.
After attending the recording of the Fourth, we wrote that it had been “patiently, lovingly sculpted before our eyes to give it a human face” by the chef of the Metropolitan. A great success.
There Third by Nézet-Séguin is no less interesting, with first and third movements that are relatively ample, but full of life, and a rather flat slow movement, if we compare to Bernstein and Berglund (but not if we compare it to what a Barbirolli or a Vänskä do).
Director Anne-Marie Sylvestre and sound engineer François Goupil perfectly captured the two moments with a rich and deep sound image.
Classical music
Sibelius 3&4
Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Orchester Métropolitain
ATMA, 2023