Jean Sibelius - Luonnotar; etc (Lise Davidsen; Edward Gardner)

Information

Composer: Jean Sibelius

• (01) Luonnotar, Op. 70
• (02) Tapiola, Op. 112
• (03) Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 46
• (12) Rakastava, Op. 14
• (15) Spring Song, Op. 16

Lise Davidsen, soprano

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

Edward Gardner, conductor

Date: 2021

Label: Chandos

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%205217

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Review

ARTISTIC QUALITY: 8 / SOUND QUALITY : 9

Here’s a mostly excellent disc, smartly programmed to offer an appealing mix of familiar and less-known music. Soprano Lise Davidsen seems to be all over the place these days. She’s the real deal, an intelligent and affecting singer with the vocal heft and secure technique to do justice to just about anything she tries. Let’s hope her current popularity doesn’t result in a premature vocal blowout. Her Luonnotar is beautiful, but just a hair too fast. This of course makes it easier to sing, but there’s more mystery and atmosphere in the music than Gardner and Davidsen realize here. It’s my only quibble about this otherwise wholly desirable program.

As for the rest: this Tapiola has all of the eerie strangeness missing in Luonnotar–and let’s face it: Is there a more alien and spooky sounding work out there, by anyone? Gardner is so adept at easing the music from one section to another that you have to wonder why he was in such a rush in Luonnotar? The Pelleas and Melisande music goes splendidly, each of its numbers played to the hilt, with Melisande at the Spinning Wheel and the following Entr’acte especially memorable. Rakastava (The Lover) is an odd arrangement for strings (with triangle and timpani) of an original vocal work. Seldom performed and melodically elusive, it’s good to hear a fresh new version. Spring Song is another rarity. It’s hymn-like opulence sounds strangely un-Sibelian, although it represents perhaps the most extended example of a very characteristic aspect of his musical personality. It’s splendidly done, its successive climaxes especially well-judged by Gardner.

As you might have guessed, the Bergen Philharmonic sounds terrific, as do the sonics. Never mind the unfortunately zippy Luonnotar. This is great stuff.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday

More reviews:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2021/Jul/Sibelius-Pelleas-CHSA5217.htm

https://www.classical-music.com/reviews/orchestral/sibelius-luonnotar-tapiola-spring-song-etc/

https://artsfuse.org/234011/classical-album-review-sibelius-tone-poems-focused-and-bold-performances/

https://www.ft.com/content/49a22b27-2998-45d1-a753-f11ca20cf96c

https://www.allmusic.com/album/sibelius-luonnotar-tapiola-spring-song-mw0003527987

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Jean Sibelius (8 December 1865 – 20 September 1957) was a Finnish violinist and composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. His music contributed to the development of a feeling of national identity in Finland where he is now celebrated as the country's greatest composer. Sibelius is widely known for his seven symphonies, the violin concerto and the tone poems, especially Finlandia and the Karelia suite. Throughout his career, the composer found inspiration in nature and Nordic mythology. He almost completely stopped composing after 1920s and did not produce any large-scale works in his last thirty years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Sibelius

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Lise Davidsen (born February 8, 1987 in Stokke) is a Norwegian opera singer. She studied at the Grieg Academy in Bergen and the Royal Opera Academy in Copenhagen. Davidsen made her first appearances with the Royal Danish Opera during the 2012-13 season and came to prominence after winning first prize and audience prize at the Operalia competition in London in 2015. In 2018, she was named the Gramophone Magazine Young Artist of the Year. Davidsen has performed in many festivals and opera houses, and has recorded two albums before signing an exclusive recording contract with Decca.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lise_Davidsen
https://lisedavidsen.com/

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Edward Gardner (born 22 November 1974 in Gloucester) is an English conductor. He attended University of Cambridge as a music student, and was a choral scholar in King's College Choir. He also studied at the Royal Academy of Music, where his teachers included Colin Metters. He was music director of English National Opera (2006-2015), principal guest conductor of  the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (2011-2016). He is currently principal conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Gardner has conducted several recordings for EMI Classics and Chandos. Records.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gardner_(conductor)

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