Okko Kamu is a pro, and a thoroughly idiomatic Sibelius conductor, and of course the Lahti Symphony Orchestra’s credentials already have been certified. The performances are excellent and full of personal touches. In the Tempest Suites, Kamu is always sensitive to the music’s subtle details, particularly regarding string articulation (critical in Sibelius). “Miranda”, for example, is unusually wistful but not sleepy, and if “Caliban’s Song” sounds a bit too legato, you do get a vivid sense of a corpulent, swaggering creature. The Overture is amazingly clear harmonically, yet also powerful. In short: a terrific performance.
In the two tone poems, Kamu really does capture that quintessentially Sibelius combination of elegance and primal power that makes the music so compelling. The Bard is perfectly paced, with a hair-raising climax. Tapiola is best of all. Listen to the edgy intensity of the woodwinds at the start–and Kamu’s timing (17-and-a-half minutes) combines brooding intensity with the necessary sense of movement. The Lahti orchestra is not large, and you can’t expect the sheer power of, say, Karajan’s Berlin Philharmonic strings in the final storm, so what Kamu sacrifices in sheer weight he makes up for in energy. Top-notch SACD engineering makes this as fine a Sibelius disc as, well, any.
