Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Paavo Berglund

The Finnish conductor Paavo Berglund died last week at 82; Allan Kozinn has a most intriguing obit in the Times. Which of his Sibelius sets should I buy?

2 comments:

David Weininger said...

Lisa:

Definitely go with the EMI/Helsinki set. Sharply etched, cool performances, alid out with an unimpeachable sense of large-scale shape. Definitely beats the later LPO cycle. I think the 8-CD box is OP, but the symphonies are still around on a couple of low-priced twofers.

BTW, I heard Berglund with the Boston Symphony twice. One on program he led the Britten arrangement of the the 3rd mvmt of Mahler 3, the Britten Violin Concerto, and Sibelius 6 & 7. It was a deeply memorable experience, the best live Sibelius I've ever heard.

He'll be missed.

David Weininger

Lisa Hirsch said...

Thank you, David! I will look around for those.