This Sibelius Second, from 1988, is an extremely exciting, well played performance with one possibly fatal flaw: it’s missing a few bars from the bassoon melody at the beginning of the second movement. How much this matters will be a question of personal taste, but it’s a stupid mistake and it begs the question, as so often in these cases, of whether or not anyone listens to the finished product before it gets issued. Once past that, you will find here a much more eruptive and tension-filled interpretation than either of Colin Davis’ two studio recordings, particularly in the finale, which is uncommonly swift–and all to the good. Of course, his Boston first recording for Philips is still very good and beautifully played, but his LSO remake for RCA is simply boring.
Davis is on record stating that German orchestras tend to resist Sibelius (God knows why), but the Staatskapelle Dresden plays very well indeed, all things considered, particularly with respect to the strings in the whirlwind scherzo. Sonically there are some problems: woodwinds are too backwardly balanced for Sibelius, and the timpani get lost whenever they aren’t loud. But the big acoustic lets Davis really raise the roof at the climaxes, and this must have been some performance to have heard live. En Saga, on the other hand, is slow and soggy, while Luonnotar is very well sung by soprano Ute Selbig, and it also benefits from a tremendous central climax. In all, this is a mixed bag, but fans of Davis’ Sibelius should hear the Second Symphony because it really shows what he can do with the piece when he isn’t playing it safe.
